ANKARA

Turkish organizations dispatched 10 trucks of humanitarian aid Wednesday to Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, which has been under severe bombardment from forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Turkey’s National Disaster Management Agency (AFAD) along with the Turkish Red Crescent, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and charity organizations provided basic needs including food, coal, tents, heaters and cleaning materials.

Syria has been mired in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN figures.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the ceasefire, launching frequent attacks inside the territory, where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to about four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-torn country.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas