UN dispatches humanitarian aid to war-stricken Syria

By Cem Genco

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - The UN on Wednesday dispatched 54 truckload of humanitarian aid to the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

The trucks passed through the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey's southern Hatay province.

The aid will be distributed among residents in urban areas of northwestern Idlib, as well as the surrounding countryside, which have been subjected to years of devastating attacks by the Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies, triggering a wave of some one million refugees.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces from throughout the war-weary country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week agreed on a new cease-fire for Idlib starting on March 5.

Under the deal, all military activities are to end in Idlib with the establishment of a security corridor 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) to the north and south of the key M4 highway.

Joint Turkish-Russian patrols will also begin on March 15 along the highway from the settlement of Trumba -- 2 km (1.2 miles) to the west of Saraqib -- to the settlement of Ain al-Havr, under the deal.

*Writing by Burak Dag