Turkish NGO sends aid to civilians in Syrian town

By Halit Suleyman

AL-BAB, Syria (AA) – Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has dispatched an aid convoy to the town of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

“This convoy will meet the needs of thousands of families, who have returned to Al-Bab,” IHH member Omer Koparan told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

He said the aid convoy consisted of 25 trucks loaded with food, blankets and cleaning supplies.

Serkan Oktem, IHH director in Turkey’s south-central city of Kilis, said the NGO has distributed 5,000 bags of bread in two days in Al-Bab and the surrounding villages.

“We will deploy a mobile bakery and a soup kitchen in the town as we did in Jarabulus,” Oktem said.

Al-Bab was captured from Daesh by Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Feb. 24 as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in August.

The operation aims to provide security, support U.S.-led coalition forces and eliminate the terrorist presence along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

After having completed successful operations in Jarabulus, Al-Rai, Dabiq and Al-Bab, the FSA forces could next lead the Raqqah -- Daesh's self-proclaimed capital -- operation, according to Turkish authorities.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter-million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.