HATAY, Turkey

A Turkish humanitarian group said Thursday it distributed aid to 1.25 million people in Syria in 2020.

Vice-chairman of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), Cuneyt Kilic, said 2,704 truckloads were sent to Syria through Turkey’s Cilvegozu and Oncupinar border gates.

"The supplies in the trucks were mainly food parcels, bread, hygiene kits. We distributed these packages to war-victim families who are trying to hold on to life in the tent cities and various regions," he said.

"The total number of trucks we have sent to Syria since 2011 has exceeded 21,000. As part of the aid efforts, we delivered humanitarian aid to more than 1.25 million civilians last year," he added and said IHH’s humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians will continue.

The Istanbul-based IHH has been carrying out aid projects in war-torn Syria since the country’s devastating conflict began in 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Since the eruption of the bloody civil war, Turkey has hosted 3.7 million Syrians who fled their country, making it the world’s top refugee-hosting country.

*Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara