BEIRUT — Trucks carrying food and other aid began entering four besieged areas in Syria on Tuesday for the first time in months, offering hope to tens of thousands of residents.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least two trucks carrying food baskets and baby formula entered the northwestern villages of Foua and Kfarya, which are besieged by insurgents, while other trucks entered the Damascus suburbs of Madaya and Zabadani, which are encircled by government forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
Dozens of trucks were supposed to enter the besieged areas, but it was not immediately clear if all would get in. Other deliveries have been canceled at the last minute or halted because of fighting.
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media released a video showing a convoy of SUVs from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent escorting at least two trucks into Madaya. It gave no further details.
The delivery came a month after the UN humanitarian coordinator for Syria appealed to all parties to reach an agreement for immediate access, saying that aid has not reached the areas since Nov. 28. Some 60,000 people live in the four besieged areas, according to the United Nations.
Hundreds of thousands of people live in besieged areas around Syria, mainly in areas surrounded by pro-government forces.
The United Nations embarked on an ambitious plan early in 2016 to establish regular humanitarian access, but it was reportedly stymied by the government as well as an agreement between the warring parties to limit assistance to 60,000 of the most distressed, divided among the four towns.
The flow of aid to the villages came hours after Physicians for Human Rights issued a report in which it accused the Syrian government of willfully denying international shipments of food and medicine to many Syrians.
‘‘Our findings show a clear pattern of obstruction and manipulation by Syrian authorities, who ensure that approved aid rarely reaches its intended targets, and when it does, it is wholly inadequate, ‘‘ said Elise Baker, the organization’s lead Syria researcher.
Humanitarian access was meant to accompany a cease-fire brokered in December by Russia and Turkey. But in January, Jan Egeland, a senior UN adviser, blamed the stoppage on a ‘‘complete, hopeless, bureaucratic quagmire.’’
While the United Nations usually works at the invitation of the governments that host it, critics say the organization’s reliance on the approval of Assad’s security apparatus has allowed aid to be used as a weapon of war.
In the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya, dozens of civilians starved to death last year after months without any aid deliveries. Although convoys have reached the area since then, doctors say their contents are often ill-suited to needs. Food deliveries have sometimes carried carbohydrates but no protein, leading to malnutrition. Government soldiers have also removed antibiotics, anesthetics, and burn treatment kits from some trucks, UN officials said.
Earlier Tuesday, a UN investigative commission said it believes government forces deliberately bombed a school complex in the north in October, killing 21 children, in a scathing report on alleged crimes committed in Syria over the last seven months.
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said government forces and allies had shown a ‘‘complete disregard for civilian life and international law’’ through continued use of cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, and chlorine gas.
The commission said the Oct. 26 attack on the Haas village school complex in the rebel-held province of Idlib constituted a war crime. It said the Syrian air force is the only one known to operate the jets identified in the attack, which was widely reported.
Material from the Washington Post was used in this report.
