UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday (March 6th) for aid convoys to have immediate access in Syria, a day after airstrikes cut short deliveries of food and medicine to Eastern Ghouta, AFP reported.

Guterres urged all sides to allow aid trucks to return Thursday to the main town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta to complete the delivery of humanitarian supplies "as previously agreed with the Syrian authorities”, a UN statement read.

As airstrikes and artillery fire continued, aid workers on Monday decided to pull out of Eastern Ghouta after offloading 32 of the 46 trucks in the convoy.

Nearly half of the food carried on the convoy could not be delivered, and part of the medical and health supplies were removed from the trucks by the Syrian authorities, the UN said.

Guterres "calls on all parties to immediately allow safe and unimpeded access for further convoys to deliver critical supplies to hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need", said the statement.

His appeal came ahead of a Security Council meeting called by Britain and France to discuss the failure of a ceasefire in Syria to take hold, 10 days after the top UN body demanded the truce.