1st aid convoy crosses into Syria after UN authorization

AMMAN

An aid convoy has crossed from Jordan into Syria without the consent of the Syrian regime for the first time since the U.N. authorized the measure.

A U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that a convoy of 20 trucks loaded with food and aid supplies had crossed Jordan's Al-Ramtha border crossing into Syria on Tuesday.

The aid convoy has been delivered to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in As-Suwayda, a mainly Druze city located in southwestern Syria.

More aid convoys are expected to cross into Syria through Al-Ramtha in the coming days.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution that allows aid to cross the Syrian border without the concent of the Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The resolution, passed on Monday, outlines how humanitarian convoys can pass through Bab a-Salam and Bab al-Hawa border crossings with Turkey, Al-Yarubiyah crossing with Iraq and Jordan's Al-Ramtha.

Since February, the number of Syrians in need of aid has increased from 9.3 million to 10.8 million, 4.7 million of whom are currently beyond the reach of assistance, according to the U.N.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that cross-border access could allow the U.N. to reach between 1.3 million and 2.5 million more people, mostly in opposition-controlled areas.

A Security Council resolution passed in February to allow aid distribution has been ignored and Assad's government has insisted on aid being channeled through Damascus, with very little subsequently reaching civilians in areas not controlled by the regime.

Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict which has spiraled into a civil war.

The U.N. has stopped updating its death toll for the country due to what it said were difficulties in verifying casualties.

At least 100,000 people were recorded as being killed in the last count in July 2013.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the death toll at more than 162,000 people.

www.aa.com.tr/en