Relief Aid Delivered to Quake-hit Syria by Nearly 200 Planes from Foreign Countries

Of these, 70 landed and were unloaded at the Russian Khmeimim air base

© Пресс-служба Минобороны РФ/ТАСС

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Nearly 200 planes with humanitarian assistance have arrived in earthquake-ravaged Syria since February 7, with more than 70 of them landing and being unloaded at the Russian Hmeymim airbase, Oleg Gurinov, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria (a division of the Russian defense ministry), said on Monday.

"Humanitarian assistance from other countries continues to arrive with the help of the Russian group of forces as part of international cooperation. Thus, six freight planes arrived in Syria from the United Arab Emirates yesterday, with three of them landing at the Hmeymim airbase. Since February 7, as many as 198 planes with humanitarian assistance have arrived in Syria from 19 foreign countries. Seventy-three of them landed and were unloaded at the Russian airbase," he said, adding that more than 283 tons of humanitarian aid have been distributed among people.

According to Gurinov, Russian and Belarusian medics continue to offer medical services to Syrians hurt in the devastating earthquake in the field hospital. More than 1,400 people have received medical assistance since February 17.

Two powerful 7.7-magnitude and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria.