By Khalil Ashawi
JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) – An aid convoy has reached earthquake-hit northwestern Syria from the eastern Deir al-Zor province, an example of assistance making it across a frontline of the country’s 11-year-long civil war since the disaster struck more than a week ago.
Organised by Arab tribes, trucks loaded with blankets, food, medical supplies and tents arrived overnight in the insurgent-held rebel northwest from a region controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Reuters witness said.
More aid was being collected, said Hamoud Saleh al-Darjah, an organiser. The aid would be distributed in the north without discrimination, he said. “This isn’t the last campaign,” he said.
Many of the Syrians displaced from Deir al-Zor to the rebel-held northwest during Syria’s civil war are members of Arab tribes which wield significant influence.
Civil war enmities have obstructed at least two attempts to send aid across frontlines into northwest Syria.
A convoy sent to the rebel-held northwest by the Kurdish-led authorities in the east and northeast was turned back last week. Sources on both sides blamed each other for the failed attempt.
More than 4,400 people have been reported killed and 8,600 injured by the earthquake in northwest Syria, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The death toll reported in Syrian government-held parts of the country stands at 1,414.
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Christina Fincher)
