Turkish charity aims to send 1,500 truckloads of aid to Syria for winter

By Zeynep Rakipoglu

ISTANBUL (AA) – A Turkish relief organization said on Tuesday it aims to send at least 1,500 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Syria for winter.

Needy people in Syria will not be left alone in the face of harsh winter conditions, said the Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in a statement.

According to the IHH, the supplies will contain winter shoes, jackets, coal and heaters, as well as foodstuffs and medicines.

The organization, that sent 1,117 truckloads of humanitarian aid to the region last winter, has started a donation drive to collect funds to reach the new goal.

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.

More than 350,000 people have been killed in the over 10 years of conflict, according to the UN human rights chief, which is “certainly an undercount."

“We have compiled a list of 350,209 identified individuals killed in the conflict in Syria between March 2011 to March 2021,” Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in September.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, some 6.6 million Syrians have also been forced to leave the country over the past decade.

Turkey alone hosts approximately 3.7 million of these people – more than any other country in the world.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara