QUM AL-WISIA (Syria) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 19th August, 2018) WISIA (Syria), August 19 (Sputnik) - The Russian Center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria has ensured safe passage of 71 UN humanitarian aid convoys in nine months, Maj. Gen. Alexei Tsygankov, the head of the center, said Sunday.
"In the period between December 21, 2017 and August 17, 2018 unobstructed passage of 71 UN humanitarian aid convoys was ensured by the center," Tsygankov said.
The head of the center remarked that the Russian military has in the same period ensured security of 27 Syrian missions of other international organizations, including, among others, the Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNICEF.
"These organizations brought over 6,000 tonnes of food, essentials to the Syrians, that is why, the humanitarian missions are at the moment one of the most important aspects of the center's work," Tsygankov said.
The head of the center said that more and more countries were beginning to organize humanitarian missions in Syria and cited the example of Armenia, recently sending 30 tonnes of food to Syria, and France.
French President Emmanuel Macron reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and, as a result, 44 tonnes of medication, tents, blankets were delivered to Syria on Russian military aircraft in July and then escorted by the Russian military police to Eastern Ghouta.
Tsygankov added that the Russian military gave out 650 food packages in the settlement of Qum Al-Wisia in the province of Daraa. Each package includes 4.44lb of rice, 2.2lb of flour and bottled water.
"The total weight of the humanitarian aid cargo is 2.8 tonnes. These people are waiting for it, they have a really great need for the essentials in the post-war period," the head of the center said.
The Russian military delivered humanitarian aid in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Daraa, according to the Defense Ministry's Center for Refugee Reception, Distribution and Settlement. Local residents were given 1,950 food packages.
Apart from these missions, food packages were given out specifically to the families of the fallen Syrian troops in several districts of the province of Aleppo.
