A U.N. agency has used parachutes to air drop food aid to a Syrian city under siege since March 2014.
The Rome-based World Food Program says the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, its local partner, collected 22 of 26 pallets dropped Sunday from a chartered aircraft for the hungry in Deir el-Zour, eastern Syria. WFP was working to discover what happened to the other four pallets.
WFP says the aid, including beans, chickpeas and rice, is enough to feed 2,500 people for one month. WFP says more than 200,000 people in Deir el-Zour desperately need humanitarian assistance. More airdrops are planned.
The aircraft flew from Jordan.
WFP called airdrops "always a last resort.'' In February, technical problems caused some pallets to miss the drop zone, and some parachutes failed.
