The United Nations is preparing to send a convoy of humanitarian aid to Syria’s southern province of Sweida, three aid officials told Reuters, after days of bloodshed left hundreds dead and displaced an estimated 175,000 people.

The preparations began after Syria’s Foreign Ministry granted UN aid agencies a green light to access Sweida directly, according to correspondence seen by Reuters, following three deliveries of UN aid to the province carried out by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

Meanwhile, diplomatic talks over Syria’s future continue, as the country’s foreign minister is due to visit Russia on Thursday, a source said. That visit will come days after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Syria.

The UN convoy will arrive more than a week after a ceasefire ended clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in Sweida, a conflict that drew in Syrian government forces and Israeli airstrikes. Israel said it was intervening to protect the Druze, who are related to Druze communities in Israel, and bombed convoys of Syrian government fighters as well as the Syrian defense ministry headquarters in Damascus over allegations the government was supporting or enabling the attacks.

Following the end of fighting on July 21, Israel delivered medical aid to the region. The new UN convoy will include food and other supplies, according to Marianne Ward, head of the UN’s World Food Programme in Syria.

“We’re organizing a convoy with a variety of different UN agencies’ support, which we expect will be the beginning of blanket access” to vulnerable communities, Ward told Reuters.

Days after the ceasefire, Syrian and Israeli officials resumed negotiations, holding talks in Paris mediated by the United States about containing any escalation in southern Syria, Syria’s state-run Ekhbariya TV reported, citing a diplomatic source. Israeli troops occupied a strip of southern Syria following the ouster of Syria’s longtime authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad at the end of last year.

Assad was an ally of Russia, adding a layer of significance to Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani’s trip to Moscow on Thursday. He is the most senior Syrian official to visit Moscow since Assad’s regime was replaced with a new government.

Russia and Syria’s new leadership have been in talks over Moscow’s hopes to continue operating its naval and air bases in northwest Syria.

The visit comes days after Putin spoke with Netanyahu on Monday. Putin, who has been waging war and conquering territory belonging to neighboring Ukraine for the past three years, “emphasized the importance of supporting the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Syria, said a Kremlin statement.

The Russian leader added that political stability in the country must come achieved through respect for “all ethnic and religious groups’ interests.”

AFP contributed to this report.