Cem Genco
January 17, 2020•Update: January 18, 2020
HATAY, Turkey
The United Nations on Friday dispatched nine truckloads of humanitarian aid for displaced civilians of Idlib, a war-weary city in northwestern Syria.
The trucks entered Syria through the border crossing in Turkey's southern Hatay province.
Since the Bashar al-Assad regime, Russia and Iran launched attacks in November 2019, some 360,000 people fled Idlib and took shelter near the Turkish border. They are currently in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
Since then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone as the cease-fire continues to be violated.
More than a million Syrians moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the last year.
According to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Idlib is home to around 3 million civilians, 75% of them women and children.
Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million Syrians who fled their country, making Turkey the world’s top refugee-hosting country.
Ankara has so far spent $40 billion for the refugees, according to official figures.
