The UN said Tuesday (January 31st) it had resumed air drops of desperately-needed aid to Deir Ezzor in Syria after halting the deliveries over two weeks ago due to heavy fighting, AFP reported.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) had on January 15th suspended air drops to the eastern city due to heavy fighting after a fierce assault by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL).

ISIL has laid siege to Deir Ezzor and its 100,000 residents since 2015 and already controls large parts of the city, but earlier this month moved further into regime-held territory, prompting fierce clashes and heavy bombardment by the regime and its allies.

WFP said it had resumed the air drops -- the only way to get aid into the city -- on Sunday after finding a "new, safer location for the drop zone".

"We are glad that we can continue to bring life-saving food and other aid supplies to this besieged town," said WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luetscher.

She said the agency had been unable to use the old drop zone due to "a real danger to the volunteers on the ground".

Since deliveries to Deir Ezzor began last April, the UN has staged 179 air drops, containing more than 3,340 metric tonnes of food and other aid, supporting some 93,500 people, WFP said.