“The Syrian government is the government that is most mindful of its people,” Mounzer Mounzer told a UN Security Council meeting held Friday to discuss the humanitarian crisis there.
“No one can claim to care more about our people than we do… especially when it comes to providing assistance to areas under the control of armed terrorist groups.”
In keeping with a deal clinched in recent days international aid convoys have reached Madaya, a rebel-held town just outside Damascus, currently surrounded by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
An estimated 42,000 people in Madaya have little to no access to food, resulting in the deaths of at least 23 people by starvation so far, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders.
International aid convoys have also reached Kefraya and al-Foua in Idlib Province, long besieged by Daesh militants.
Kang Kyung-wha, the deputy UN aid chief, complained about the “slow and bureaucratic” procedure of providing aid to the affected Syrian people urging “simplified” humanitarian operations.
Mounzer underscored the need to prevent relief supplies from falling into the hands of the terrorists operating in Syria.
The Syrian government said aid supplied to Madaya in October last year had been looted by terrorists and sold to civilians at inflated prices.
According to the UN, up to 4.5 million people live in hard-to-reach areas of Syria, which has been witnessing a deadly conflict since March 2011, Press TV reported.
