Convoys are delivering aid for the second time this week to three besieged communities in Syria in an effort to alleviate civilian suffering in cut-off areas.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked the Syrian government for permission to send mobile clinics and medical teams to the besieged town of Madaya to assess the extent of malnutrition and evacuate the worst cases, its representative said.

The UN said the Syrian government has allowed access to an opposition town near the Lebanon border where residents have resorted to eating cats and dogs to survive.

The Syrian government has agreed to allow humanitarian assistance into three beleaguered villages following reports of deaths from malnutrition in that part of the country, a UN official has said.

Syrian rebels say they are making a “tactical retreat” from the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs because of worsening humanitarian conditions.