UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 (NNN-SANA) – An aid convoy via Syria’s Damascus-Sweida Highway 110, blocked for weeks by fighting, has reached the southernmost Sweida governorate, for the first time since July 12, UN humanitarians said, yesterday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said, aid convoys had been forced to take less direct routes, adding to logistics and security challenges.
OCHA said, the convoy, which arrived on Thursday, involved the United Nations, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and partners, and included 19 trucks carrying food baskets, hygiene kits, nutritional supplies, fuel, medical supplies and solar lamps.
The office said, humanitarian partners reported that, since mid-July, clashes in Sweida have displaced more than 187,000 people across southern Syria. Between July and Aug, nearly 370,000 people across Sweida, Daraa and Rural Damascus governorates received humanitarian assistance.
OCHA said, the world body and its humanitarian partners continue to scale up their relief response.
Several clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes in early July, had interdicted the highway, making it unsafe for humanitarian traffic. While a fragile ceasefire was brokered in late July, the area remains tense.– NNN-SANA
