U.N. Syria envoy says wants to 'work on' expanding aid air drops

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday the United Nations wanted to "work on" the idea of air drops of aid to besieged Syrians in different areas of the country. "The idea... of air drops in Deir al-Zor has become a very concrete proposal, which we want to work on, but not only there, even eastern Aleppo, even in fact in Daraya in Eastern Ghouta, many other places including Kefraya and al-Foua, where people are in need of help," he told reporters in Damascus. De Mistura had been visiting Syria as part of efforts to coordinate aid deliveries to several areas in the west and northwest. The United Nations plans to make its first air drops of food aid to Deir al-Zor, an eastern town besieged by Islamic State, the chair of a U.N. humanitarian task force said earlier on Thursday. (Reporting by Kinda Makieh, writing by John Davison)