WFP spokesperson defends agency's supply of food aid to Syrian opposition areas

In a Google+ online discussion on Friday, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Abeer Etefa "downplayed recent reports that not enough of [the agency's] Syrian food aid is going to people in opposition areas," GlobalPost reports. "The panel discussion comes as new figures from the United Nations show that the WFP has only been able to provide food to 11 percent of people in the Idlib province, as Syria Deeply reported," the news service writes. "As soon as there is a lull in fighting or some cease fire for even a few hours, we are able to send food to these areas," Etefa said, adding later, "So I would say it's not that low, it's not 11 percent. It's much more than that, it's probably in the range of 35 to 40 percent of the time we reach these opposition areas," according to the news service. Médecins Sans Frontières, "one of the only international aid groups to be working inside opposition-held areas," expressed concern on Wednesday "that almost all international aid to Syria is being spent only in government-controlled regions," GlobalPost notes (Silverstein, 2/1).