Russia to keep providing humanitarian aid to Syria, including through NGOs - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Russia will keep "rendering the required humanitarian assistance to the friendly Syrian people via interstate channels and through Russian NGOs," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement referred to delivery to Syria of a regular batch of Russian humanitarian aid through the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. The ministry said that on February 10 two Il-76 military transport aviation aircraft of Russia’s Defense Ministry arrived at the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia with a humanitarian aid cargo collected by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society - Russia’s oldest nongovernmental organization. "This is already the 14th batch of humanitarian aid the organization has been sending since the start of 2013 to the Syrian people, which is suffering from the aggression of international terrorism," the statement said. "This time, 35 tons of cargo, including medicaments, dressings, flour, sugar, rice, personal hygiene items, gifts for children, were supplied to Latakia," it said. "Another batch of humanitarian aid through the Society’s channels is getting ready to be sent to Syria soon," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. According to UN statistics, fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has killed over 220,000 people and displaced millions since its start in 2011. Gangs of militants making part of various armed formations, the most active of them being the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, fight government troops. Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, which are banned in Russia, on September 30, 2015, on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad. Targets of the Russian aircraft include terrorists’ gasoline tankers and oil refineries. Russia’s aircraft have made thousands of sorties since the start of the operation in Syria. Read more