AN AID convoy organised by the UN and other agencies entered the insurgent-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta in Syria today.

The 46 lorries were carrying medicines and food for 27,000 people.

The delivery was the first to the region in nearly three weeks and the first to Douma, the largest and most populated town in Eastern Ghouta, since November.

UN officials had said that lack of approvals and consensus among the warring parties, as well as the limited duration of a daily, five-hour Russian-organised humanitarian pause, had made aid delivery impossible.

Syrian forces are besieging Eastern Ghouta, a largely agricultural area to the south and east of Damascus.

It is one of the last holdouts of mainly foreign-backed jihadist rebels, who have been firing shells and mortars at Damascus proper from their positions there.

The Syrian government has been pursuing tactics similar to those that broke the grip of Islamist fighters on Homs and Aleppo, shelling rebel-held areas and then using ground forces to retake districts.