Turkish agency has sent 15,000 aid trucks to Syria

By Burak Karacaoglu and Esref Musa

IDLIB, Syria

Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has sent 15,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.

The recently released activity report of the foundation said: “The IHH has not left Syrian people on their own since the first day of the war.

“The foundation, which has delivered around 15,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to the region, has been providing services with nine coordination centers, where 843 personnel including volunteers work.”

“One university and 29 schools have been opened [in Syria]. Education needs of over 160,000 have been met.

“One factory producing gauze was established and a total of 683 ambulances were sent to the country,” it said.

According to the report, seven health centers, including mobile hospitals, were set up across the country as well as 36 wells and 16 water depots.

The IHH's bakeries also produced 750,000 loaves of bread daily while, at the same time, its kitchens cooked food for 60,000 people in Syria.

A village called "Rahmet" -- in Turkish "Mercy" -- was also established in the northern Syrian province of Idlib.

It boasts 100 houses, a hospital, a mosque, a health center and a social center.

According to the aid foundation, it has spent up to $321 million in aid to Syria so far.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

While UN officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, Syrian regime officials say the death toll is closer to 10,000.

During the conflict, the Assad regime was accused many times by many international actors of targeting Syrian civilians with chemical weapons.