HATAY, Turkey

The UN on Monday dispatched 33 trucks of humanitarian aid to the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

The trucks passed through the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Turkey, with aid to be distributed to residents in urban areas of the war-torn province as well as the surrounding countryside.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. Since then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone.

Notably, about a million people have been forced to leave conflict-prone areas of the city and they started taking shelter in safer areas in the northern part of the province bordering Turkey.

The Turkish government has followed an "open-door" policy for Syrians since the eruption of the bloody war.

There are over 3.6 million Syrians currently taking shelter in Turkey, many looking forward to one day returning home.

*Writing by Burak Bir