The United Nations dispatched 23 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. The aid trucks crossed into the Syrian territory through the Cilvegözü border gate in southern Turkey’s Hatay province.

The aid will be distributed among poverty-stricken Syrians in the province and rural areas.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to U.N. estimates.

The Idlib de-escalation zone was forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire agreements, which have been frequently violated by the Assad regime and its allies.

Most recently, a fragile truce was brokered between Moscow and Ankara in March 2020 in response to months of fighting by the Russia-backed regime. Almost a million people have fled the Bashar Assad regime’s offensive, yet the regime still frequently carries out attacks on civilians, hindering most from returning to their homes and forcing them to stay in makeshift camps.

For years, the Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further gains of territory and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime has bombed vital facilities including schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country’s population while adopting policies to make their lives more difficult.

The envoy further stated that the United States is in talks with the U.N. Security Council, Turkey and Russia to open border gates for humanitarian aid.