UN opening new aid route to reach Raqa

The UN expects to open a new Syria aid corridor, which may help get supplies to desperate people fleeing the Islamic State (IS) group stronghold of Raqa.

"Courageous humanitarian workers have been now travelling for days to open a new corridor from Aleppo in the west to Qamishli," Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed aid taskforce for Syria, told reporters in Geneva yesterday.

"We are hopeful that we will be able to reach that place very soon now, within hours hopefully," he added.

Humanitarian workers have faced daunting challenges in responding to the crisis in Raqa, where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are battling to oust IS.