The World Health Organization said on Friday that it had delivered seven trucks with 55 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies from Turkey to the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo amid the largest internal displacement in the history of the Syrian conflict
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2020) The World Health Organization said on Friday that it had delivered seven trucks with 55 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies from Turkey to the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo amid the largest internal displacement in the history of the Syrian conflict.
"In a two-day operation, the World Health Organization has sent seven truckloads or 55 tons of medicine and medical supplies, from Turkey into Idleb governorate and parts of Aleppo, that have since December 2019 seen the largest exodus of internally displaced Syrians in the nine year history of the Syria conflict," the organization said in a press release.
The cargo, which included over 225,000 treatment courses and equipment for 3,200 trauma and surgical treatments, was delivered via the border crossings of Bab al Hawa and Bab al Sama on Tuesday and Wednesday, the WHO said.
"These supplies will meet a dire and growing need and enable continued services; in three months, nearly one million people have been displaced," Richard Brennan, WHO's Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said.
The organization noted that just 31 of the 84 healthcare facilities suspended in the region since December had managed to resume work in new locations, but their capacity was so limited that they have to focus only on life-threatening cases.
In December, the Syrian government forces launched an offensive to recapture areas of the Idlib province, the last remaining stronghold of militants in the country. These areas are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, banned in Russia). Fighting in the region escalated further, as Turkish and Syrian militaries conducted several tit-for-tat attacks there.
Earlier in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Turkey had not fulfilled several key commitments outlined in a bilateral accord on Syria's Idlib, including its failure to distinguish between the armed opposition, which is ready for dialogue with the government within the framework of the political process, and terrorists. In turn, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay insisted that Ankara had fulfilled its obligations.
