UN sends 83 truckloads of aid to NW Syria via Turkey

By Cem Genco

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - The UN on Tuesday sent 83 more truckloads of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

The trucks crossed into Idlib through the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey’s southern Hatay province.

The aid containing food supplies and tents will be distributed among people in Idlib and surrounding areas.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

According to UN estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced.

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.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara