UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- More Syrians are benefiting from cross-border humanitarian operations than ever before, said a UN spokesman on Monday.
In November alone, the United Nations provided over 1.1 million people with food through cross-border deliveries, doubling the number in January, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The operation from Turkey has grown by more than 40 percent compared with the same time last year. Life-saving assistance such as medicine is being sent from Iraq into northeast Syria, providing assistance that otherwise cannot reach people in that area, Dujarric told a daily press briefing.
Since 2014, the UN has sent nearly 30,000 truckloads of humanitarian assistance across the four border crossings named in the Security Council Resolution 2165 (2014), he said.
Nearly 2,000 trucks have passed through those crossings in October and November this year, he added.
Some 4 million people in need across northern Syria are supported by the UN cross-border humanitarian assistance mechanism, including 2.7 million people in the northwest who rely solely on the operation for life-saving assistance, according to Dujarric.
The cross-border operations in Syria are among the most closely scrutinized aid delivery systems in the world today. The UN continues to take every step possible to ensure that the operations meet the highest standards for accountability, said the spokesman.
