A planned cessation of hostilities in Syria from Saturday night should rescue the civilian population from "the abyss", Jan Egeland, chairman of a humanitarian task force, said on Thursday.<br />"We need to cover the final areas in the besieged areas list, most of them are in the areas called eastern Ghouta.<br />And we will be doing convoys in the coming days to this area," Egeland told reporters, referring to an area near Damascus.<br />Syria's opposition indicated on Wednesday it was ready for a two-week truce in Syria, saying it was a chance to test the seriousness of the other side's commitment to a U.S.-Russian plan for a cessation of hostilities.<br />However, an air-drop of food to 200,000 people on Wednesday in the eastern town of Deir al-Zor, which is besieged by Islamic State, a jihadi group that the United Nations has no contact with, ran into problems, Egeland said.
