Turkish aid group sends drinking water to N.Syria

By Omer Faruk Salman

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AA) - A Turkish aid group on Monday sent 10 truckloads of humanitarian aid to needy Syrian civilians in border regions near Turkey.

Yusuf Bulbul, the Kahramanmaras, Turkey representative of the Humanitarian Relief Organization (IHH), reported that they visited camps in Idlib, northern Syria in February and that the people living there urgently need food, water, and shoes.

With support from benefactors and a company, 10 trucks carrying drinking water set off to help the people in need in camps in Idlib.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia.

The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings that the Assad regime and its allies have frequently violated.

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

Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN officials.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara