Aid convoy
A Syrian convoy of humanitarian aid has reached the northern district of Afrin, which has been the target of a Turkish offensive for more than a month.
The convoy bringing humanitarian supplies to 50,000 displaced people in the war-torn district, said spokeswoman of The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Iolanda Jaquemet said on Thursday under the supervision of
It is the first time this year that the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) have got agreement from all warring sides to send a convoy to the area, she pointed out.
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that in Aleppo the convoy including 28 trucks entered the crossing of al-Zyiara heading for Afrin under the supervision of the SARC and the ICRC.
SANA’s reporter said the aid convoy is carrying food and medina and other relief supplies to support the residents of Afrin in the face Turkey’s ongoing act of aggression in the region.
The development comes days after the UN Security Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria “without delay” to allow aid delivery and medical evacuations.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, however, said the resolution will have no effect on Ankara’s ongoing cross-border offensive in Kurdish areas in northwestern Syria.
Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin on January 20 in a bid to eliminate the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’Party (PKK).
Ankara is angry over Washington’s refusal to drop its support for the Kurdish militants.
The Damascus government has already condemned both Turkish and American military activities in Syria as illegal and a violation of the country’s sovereignty.