UN Preparing to Resume Aid Convoys in Syria after Attack

The United Nations is organizing new aid convoys to resume humanitarian work in Syria, two days after a presumed airstrike on an aid mission killed 21 people and led to the suspension of aid operations.

Spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Jens Laerke said transport preparations for fresh aid deliveries had resumed and would be on standby to start work as soon as possible. "The United Nations continues to call for safe, unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to all Syrians in need, wherever they are," he said. 

World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Syria, Elizabeth Hoff, said the organization was preparing medical supplies for delivery on Thursday to the Damascus suburb of Moadamiya subject to the normal security risk assessments.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) suspended operations in Aleppo province for three days following Monday night’s attack on a 31-truck convoy and warehouse in the town of Urem al-Kubra that killed a staff member and about 20 civilians. SARC has continued deliveries to other areas of Syria, officials say.

"For the time being we are assessing security in different areas. In the next 24 hours we won’t have any convoys across front lines," said Krista Armstrong, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"The teams are eager to get to the four towns, which we expect to be on Saturday." She was referring to the rebel-besieged towns of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib and government-blockaded Madaya and Zabadani near the Lebanese border.

Source : QNA