United Nations: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eight trucks, out of a total of 79, have crossed the border from Turkey into Syria and are being off-loaded at humanitarian agencies’ warehouses in northeast Syria, a UN spokesperson said here Friday.
The convoy, carrying humanitarian aid supplies from Turkey to north Syria, was first of its kind since the Syrian crisis broke out in March 2011.
Four trucks carrying blankets for 12,000 people, and as many with wheat flour for 20,000 people arrived Thursday at Qamishli city, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said here at a daily briefing.
Other components of the food parcels, like oil and rice, are expected to reach the areas in the coming days, in addition to water kits, medicines, children’s clothes, hygiene kits and sleeping mats, he said.
Nigel Fisher, the regional humanitarian coordinator, said earlier Friday that no convoy movements were expected in the day, but agencies were hoping that operations can continue Saturday.
There are 500,000 people who urgently need aid in the Hassakeh area, including local families and those displaced from other parts of Syria, who cannot be reached from inside the country due to insecurity and fighting, he said.
Three weeks ago, the UN Security Council ordered Syria’s warring parties to let aid workers deliver food and medicine to the people in need.
Over 100,000 people have been killed and the UN estimates some 6.3 million internally displaced since the conflict broke out in March 2011 in the Middle East country.