The first United Nations convoy carrying emergency aid to a rebel-held area of Syria stricken three days ago by a deadly earthquake crossed from Turkey on Thursday.
The trucks, with materials from jerrycans to blankets, went via the Bab Al Hawa crossing to Idlib city in an area of northwest Syria where 4 million people, many uprooted by civil war, had relied on aid even before Monday’s quake.
The disaster has killed more than 17,000 people in Turkey and Syria, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
“We need life-saving aid,” U.N. envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva.
“It’s desperately needed by civilians wherever they are, irrespective of borders and boundaries. We need it urgently through the fastest, most direct and most effective routes. They need more of absolutely everything.”
With frustration rising at the slow delivery of aid, Turkish officials said they would open other crossing points into Syria in two days if security was sound.
