UN aid to Syrians stranded on Iraqi-Syrian border approved

The Syrian government gave approval for the United Nations to deliver aid next week to thousands of desperate civilians stranded near a U.S. garrison in southeastern Syria on the Iraqi-Syrian border, aid workers and camp officials said on Wednesday.

A siege earlier this month by the Syrian army and a block on aid by Jordan has depleted food in the camp and led to at least a dozen deaths in the last week among its over 50,000 inhabitants, mainly women and children, residents and U.N. sources told Reuters.