Iraq gives humanitarian aid to Syria

The Iraqi government on Tuesday said it will send urgent humanitarian aid to Syria and will launch a popular relief campaign from Iraqi people to Syrian people. "The Iraqi government has decided to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and will start a popular relief campaign from the Iraqi people to the brotherly Syrian people," the government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement. Dabbagh said that the popular campaign in Iraq to relieve the Syrian people will be carried out by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS). In mid September, Iraqi officials said that there are 21,000 Syrian refugees in the Iraqi western province of Anbar and in Duhuk in Kurdistan region in northern the country. Iraq has an around 600-km borderline with Syria, mainly in the two bordering provinces of Anbar and Nineveh. The border crossings had witnessed closure in history when crises intensified on either side. Syria has been wrecked by bombings and violence against civilians since March 2011, when anti-government protests began. The unrest has claimed the lives of thousands of people, including large numbers of security forces.