UN dispatches humanitarian aid to war-weary Syria

HATAY, Turkey

The United Nations dispatched 74 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Idlib, a northwestern Syrian province, on Friday.

Trucks passed through the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay, Turkey's southern border province with Syria, and aid will be distributed to residents in Idlib, as well as the surrounding countryside which have been subjected to years of devastating attacks by the Assad regime and its allies, triggering a wave of 1 million refugees.

The war in Syria started in early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

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

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan and Cansu Dikme