Turkish agency sends 12 aid trucks to Syria's Afrin

By Lale Bildirici

SIVAS, Turkey (AA) - Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) on Saturday dispatched 12 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to Syria's northwestern Afrin.

Speaking at a ceremony for the send-off at the Republic Square of Turkey’s central province of Sivas, IHH head Bulent Yildirim said the delivery of humanitarian aid to Afrin needs to continue as it is the only means of survival for the civilians there.

“Up until now we [IHH] have sent more than 15,000 trucks to Syria,” he added.

Governor Sivas Davut Gul, Mayor of Sivas Sami Aydin and Hilmi Bilgin, the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s lawmaker from the province, also attended the ceremony.

Yildirim noted the Tree of Life Foundation also contributed in the recently sent aid to Syria.

According to the aid foundation, it has so far spent up to $321 million to aid Syrians.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

While UN officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, Syrian regime officials say the death toll is closer to 10,000.

During the conflict, the Assad regime was accused many times by many international actors of targeting Syrian civilians with chemical weapons.