Turkish NGO sends aid to civilians in Syrian town
Aid convoy to Al-Bab consists of 25 trucks loaded with basic supplies
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 07: IHH officials deliver the aids to Syrian people provided by the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), a Turkish NGO in Al-Bab town of Aleppo, Syria on March 07, 2017. Syrians who have returned to their home after the Al Bab town center has been entirely freed from Daesh terrorists as part of the "Operation Euphrates Shield", prepare to start a new life in the area. The Turkish-led Operation Euphrates Shield began on August 24, 2016 to improve security, support coalition forces and eliminate the terror threat along the Turkish border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets. ( Hüseyin Nasır - Anadolu Agency )
Syria
AL-BAB, Syria
Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has dispatched an aid convoy to the town of Al-Bab in northern Syria.
“This convoy will meet the needs of thousands of families, who have returned to Al-Bab,” IHH member Omer Koparan told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
He said the aid convoy consisted of 25 trucks loaded with food, blankets and cleaning supplies.
Serkan Oktem, IHH director in Turkey’s south-central city of Kilis, said the NGO has distributed 5,000 bags of bread in two days in Al-Bab and the surrounding villages.
“We will deploy a mobile bakery and a soup kitchen in the town as we did in Jarabulus,” Oktem said.
Al-Bab was captured from Daesh by Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Feb. 24 as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in August.
The operation aims to provide security, support U.S.-led coalition forces and eliminate the terrorist presence along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.
After having completed successful operations in Jarabulus, Al-Rai, Dabiq and Al-Bab, the FSA forces could next lead the Raqqah -- Daesh's self-proclaimed capital -- operation, according to Turkish authorities.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than a quarter-million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.
reporting by Halit Suleyman:Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
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