Saudi aid plane lands in Syria for first time in decade

 

An official said it was the first aircraft from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years.

A Saudi Arabian plane carrying aid for earthquake-hit Syria landed in the second city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a transport ministry official told AFP.

Huge amounts of foreign aid have descended on Syria since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the war-torn country and neighboring Turkey, killing more than 35,000 people.

"This is the first aircraft from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years," the official said on condition of anonymity. Because he is not allowed to talk to the press.

State news agency SANA reported that the Saudi plane carrying 35 tonnes of food aid landed at Aleppo International Airport.

Another transport ministry official, Suleiman Khalil, told AFP that two more Saudi planes were due to land on Wednesday and Thursday.

The last such flight landed in Syria in February 2012.

After more than a decade of war, the government of President Bashar al-Assad remains a figurehead in the West, complicating international efforts to aid those affected by the quake.

The Arab League suspended Syria in 2011 and some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, severed ties.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with the government of President Bashar al-Assad in 2012 and supported the rebels in the first phase of the war.

Riyadh has pledged aid to both rebel-held and government-controlled areas of the country.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Saturday it sent a first aid convoy of 11 trucks, carrying 104 tonnes of food and tarpaulins, to rebel-held northwestern Syria.

An official at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center earlier told AFP there was no direct contact with the Assad government.

In Syria alone, more than 3,600 people have been killed by the earthquake, according to government and emergency services in the rebel-held northwest.

According to the World Health Organisation, the mostly government-controlled province of Aleppo was badly affected, with more than 200,000 people left homeless.

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and forced almost half of the country's pre-war population from their homes, many of whom have taken refuge in Turkey.

Even before Monday's earthquake, most of the population was in need of humanitarian assistance. The latest disaster has only piled on more misery.