HATAY, Turkiye

An Istanbul-based charity group distributed humanitarian aid to 1.15 million people in Syria last year, said a senior official on Wednesday.

Cuneyt Kilic, the vice chairman of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), who is also in charge of the charity's campaign in Syria, said in a written statement that their efforts in the war-torn country continue unabated.

The IHH sent over 2,500 truckloads of humanitarian aid, weighing 65,000 tons, to Syria in 2021, he elaborated.

The relief boxes mainly included food, blanket, fuel, clothes, tent, personal care material.

"We distributed these materials to the families of the war victims who are trying to hold on to life in tent cities and various settlements," he said.

The total number of aid trucks sent to Syria since 2011 exceeded 24,000, Kilic added.

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

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

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev