Syria: Aid reaches refugees in rain-hit camps

By Ahmet Karaahmet and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - Islamic Relief, an international humanitarian organization, delivered clothes and food aid to refugees battered by heavy rainfall in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.

Around 50,000 internally displaced persons in more than 100 refugee camps have been hit hard by torrential downpour that started late on Monday.

In the first phase, the UK-based aid group provided tents to 400 families, beds, waterproof fabric for tents, blankets, and hygiene packages to 500 families, and ready-made food packages to 1,000 families.

"As a part of the winter support project, we, as Islamic Relief's Turkey office, delivered aid to more than 60,000 needy people in 50 camps in Idlib and 35 camps in Azaz over the past week," Macdi Selmanoglu, a spokesperson for the group, told Anadolu Agency.

He added that the group is also continuing efforts to help Syrians living inside Turkey, particularly those in Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Sanliurfa.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have since been killed and millions more displaced, with Turkey currently hosting some 3.5 million Syrian refugees.