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U.N. led aid convoy to Syria's Rukban camp postponed: U.N. official

Arab World Materials 27 October 2018 10:28 (UTC +04:00)
United Nations-led aid delivery, critically needed by thousands of civilians stranded in a camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border, has been postponed and will not arrive
U.N. led aid convoy to Syria's Rukban camp postponed: U.N. official

United Nations-led aid delivery, critically needed by thousands of civilians stranded in a camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border, has been postponed and will not arrive on Saturday as was expected by community leaders, a U.N. official said, Reuters reports.

“The planned joint U.N.-Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) humanitarian convoy to Rukban camp has been delayed for logistical and security reasons,” Fadwa Abed Rabou Baroud, a Damascus-based U.N. official told.

“The U.N. remains ready to deliver aid for the 50,000 people in need as soon as conditions allow,” Baroud added.

In the last three years, tens of thousands of people have fled to the camp from Islamic State-held parts of Syria being targeted by Russian and U.S.-led coalition air strikes.

A siege earlier this month by the Syrian army and a block on aid by Jordan has depleted food at the desert camp where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet.

That has led to at least a dozen deaths in the past two weeks among its more than 50,000 inhabitants, mainly women and children, residents and U.N. sources told.

Community leaders said heavy sandstorms had hit the makeshift camp in the last forty eight hours.

“The U.N. have coordinated very well with us but the delay could well be due to the weather conditions and the sandstorms, anyway the reason for the delay will become clearer in the next day or two,” Oqba al Abdullah, an official inside the camp said.

The United Nations office said it had received authorization by the Syrian government to deliver the aid and confirmed preparations were being made for a convoy to desperate camp residents this week but did not give a date.

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