UN aid official laments failure to achieve more in Syria

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), shows Syrian citizens inspecting damaged shops after airstrikes hit a market in Atareb, west of the divided city of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Aug 2, 2016. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory said at least 11 people, including five children were killed when bombs were dropped in a market in Atareb. (Aleppo Media Center via AP) (The Associated Press)

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In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, meets with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Iranian Shura Council, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Aug 4, 2016. Boroujerdi said operation by the Syrian government and allied forces in Aleppo aims to "liberate" tens of thousands of residents from the grip of what he called terrorist groups. (SANA via AP) (The Associated Press)

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Iranian Shura Council, left, stands with a member of his delegation as he speaks to journalists after meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, at the Lebanese foreign ministry, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) (The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – A senior U.N. humanitarian official is lamenting the world body's failure to achieve its target goals in war-ravaged Syria.

Jan Egeland, an adviser to U.N.'s special envoy to Syria, says only 40 percent of planned humanitarian relief was delivered in June and July. He said the U.N. had hoped to reach 1.2 million people over the last two months, but fell well short of that target.

Egeland says there is "fighting in too many places, and that affects the besieged towns more than anything else."

Speaking on Thursday in Geneva, Egeland also said the U.N. is prepared to send aid to the contested city of Aleppo as soon as fighting pauses. The last delivery to the opposition-held half of the city, home to an estimated 300,000 people, was in June.