In an effort to ease the horrendous toll of civil war and displacement, a Saudi National Campaign announced on Thursday the successful distribution of winter clothes to at least 3,185 Syrian refugees residing in Jordan’s Mafraq Governorate.
The delivery was made at the campaign’s scheduled 24th and 25th stations of its relief program. Campaign Regional Director Dr. Badr bin Abdulrahman Al-Samhan underscored that the campaign continues to deliver aid to those in need through several relief projects among which are those attending to the distribution of winter clothes, utensils and personal care bags to thousands of Syrian refugee families relocated to host countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon. Some aid programs attend refugees also found inside Syria.
Most of the refugees have escaped enclaves torn about by incessant Russian bombardment and guerrilla warfare. A cessation of hostilities across Syria is vital to avoid another deadly battle like the one in Aleppo-which greatly added to the Syria humanitarian catastrophe- the United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday.
At least 35,000 people, both civilians and fighters, have been evacuated from east Aleppo in a week-long operation, the latest U.N. figures show. “Many of them have gone to Idlib, which could be the next Aleppo,” de Mistura warned.
More than 4,000 fighters were evacuated overnight from east Aleppo to opposition-held areas, under an agreement between the warring sides overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the ICRC said on Thursday.
“Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, in one of the last stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo to western rural Aleppo, as per the agreement reached between the different parties,” ICRC spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said.
This brought to around 34,000 the total number of people evacuated from the district in a week-long operation, hampered by heavy snow and wind, she said.
“The evacuation will continue for the entire day and night and most probably tomorrow (Friday). Thousands are still expected to be evacuated,” Armstrong said.