Aid convoys reached four besieged towns in Syria Tuesday, delivering food and medical supplies to 60,000 people for the first time since November, the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations said.

Separate convoys of trucks were carrying medical supplies, food, wheat flour and nutritional items to some 40,000 people in Madaya and Zabadani, two towns blockaded by pro-government forces near the Lebanese border, and to 20,000 in Al-Foua and Kfarya in Idlib, besieged by insurgents, a spokeswoman said.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in besieged areas around Syria, mainly in areas surrounded by pro-government forces.

The U.N. 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.

Meanwhile, a government delegation led by Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, began meetings Tuesday with Russian officials in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

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