UN sends more humanitarian aid to Syria via Turkey

HATAY, Turkey

The UN on Thursday dispatched 44 more trucks with humanitarian aid to northwestern Syria, a region where millions of people remain in need of assistance due to conflict.

The trucks passed through the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey’s southern Hatay province to enter Syria’s Idlib province, where the aid will be distributed.

A civil war has ravaged Syria since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

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

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 that the Assad regime and its allies have frequently violated.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara