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UN: 8 trucks carrying aid cross into Syria from Turkey

Türkiye Materials 22 March 2014 05:49 (UTC +04:00)
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eight trucks, out of a total of 79, have crossed the border from Turkey into Syria and are being off-loaded at humanitarian agencies' warehouses in northeast Syria.
UN: 8 trucks carrying aid cross into Syria from Turkey

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eight trucks, out of a total of 79, have crossed the border from Turkey into Syria and are being off-loaded at humanitarian agencies' warehouses in northeast Syria, a UN spokesman said here Friday, Xinhua reported.

The convoy which carried humanitarian aid supplies from Turkey to north Syria was first of its kind since the Syrian crisis broke out in March 2011.

Four trucks carrying blankets for 12,000 people, and four others with wheat flour for 20,000 people arrived Thursday at Qamishli city, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said here at a daily briefing.

Other components of the food parcels, like oil and rice, are expected to reach the areas in the coming days, in addition to water kits, medicines, children's clothes, hygiene kits and sleeping mats, he said.

Nigel Fisher, the regional humanitarian coordinator, said earlier Friday that no convoy movements are expected in the day, but agencies are hoping that operations can continue on Saturday.

Asked how the aid is being distributed, the deputy spokesman said UN agencies are working with local partners on the ground.

There are 500,000 people who urgently need aid in the Hassakeh area, including local families and those displaced from other parts of Syria, who cannot be reached from inside the country due to insecurity and fighting, he said.

Three weeks ago, the UN Security Council ordered Syria's warring parties to let aid workers deliver food and medicine to the people in need.

More than 100,000 people were killed and the UN estimates that some 6.3 million people have been internally displaced since the conflict broke out in March 2011 in the Middle East country. More than two million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

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