A convoy carrying UN aid crossed from regime-controlled northwest Syria to rebel-held areas for the first time since a devastating February earthquake, an AFP humanitarian official announced on Friday.
The correspondent highlighted that the 10-truck convoy reached rebel-held Al-Nayrab in Idlib province from the direction of regime-held Saraqib and headed for storage facilities near the Turkish border.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Twitter the “cross-line convoy is underway, carrying UN humanitarian supplies” to northwest Syria.
A February 6 earthquake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, including areas of the war-torn country’s Idlib region that are controlled by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
On February 10, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime indicated that it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid directly from government-held territory to rebel areas. However, HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani refused assistance through such a route.
Later on, the UN chief stated that Assad had agreed to open the Bab al-Salama and Al-Rai crossings from Turkey to allow aid to enter rebel-held areas for an initial period of three months.
