Western-backed forces encircle key town in northern Syria

In another battleground of Syria's civil war, minimal food deliveries finally reached the Damascus suburb of Daraya, which has been besieged and blockaded by government forces for nearly four years, but opposition activists said heavy bombardment held up the aid's distribution.

Backed by intense Russian airstrikes, the Syrian troops seized a major intersection that leads to the air base and nearby oil fields, according to state media and the Observatory.

In neighboring Iraq, government forces cleared more territory won back from the Islamic State group on the southern edge of Fallujah, held by the militants for more than two years.

Convoys organized by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations brought food, flour and medical supplies to warehouses in Daraya late Thursday and early Friday, after the U.N. said the Syrian government had approved access to 15 of 19 besieged areas within Syria.

The U.N. estimated that 4,000 to 8,000 people are in Daraya, which has been subject to the crippling blockade since its residents expelled security forces in the early stages of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The WFP official, who was not identified by the activists posting the video, said he had met with community leaders and some recipients of the food aid.

Amateur video online showed U.N. SUVs and white SARC trucks driving through sand barriers in the dark and met by opposition fighters.

Joining the convoy were the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, and Khawla Mattar, a spokeswoman for the U.N. special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, according to activists' photos posted online.