The United Nations announced that it has ended its cross-border humanitarian aid operations from Turkey to Syria, after more than 10 years of operation.
This was announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres' spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, during his daily press briefing in New York on Monday.
Dujarric indicated that the UN ended its cross-border humanitarian aid operations from Turkey to Syria due to the reopening of border crossings for commercial traffic and improved access through regular supply routes.
He noted that the cross-border aid mechanism through Turkey had played a "crucial role" for many years.
He added: "Each year of operation, this mechanism successfully delivered more than 65,000 truckloads of vital humanitarian aid across the border, supporting approximately 1.25 million people."
He explained that ending this mechanism coincided with the expansion of opportunities to deliver aid to Syria through regular commercial channels and the gradual return of important trade links to normalcy.
However, he stressed that the need for humanitarian aid in Syria "remains high."
He explained that more than 13 million Syrians are in need of food aid, 12 million need access to clean water, and approximately 13 million also rely on health services.
It is worth noting that the cross-border aid mechanism primarily served the Idlib region in northwestern Syria before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8, 2014.
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