HATAY, Turkey

The UN on Wednesday sent 54 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

The trucks crossed into Idlib through the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey’s southern Hatay province.

The aid will be distributed among the needy people in Idlib and its surrounding areas.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the 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.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which have frequently been violated by the Assad regime and its allies.