UN carries out 200 cross-border aid missions to Syria since Feb quakes

United Nations, Aug 30 (IANS) The UN has carried out 200 cross-border missions to Syria since the first inter-agency visit to Idlib on February 14, following the devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey, a spokesman said.

During the latest mission that took place on Sunday that crossed through Bab al-Salam, World Health Organization (WHO) personnel conducted monitoring visits to health facilities and warehouses in Afrin and Azaz and also met their local partners, Xinhua news agency quoted Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as saying on Tuesday.

"We and our humanitarian partners are continuing to deliver urgently needed aid through the Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra'ee crossings," he said.

"Today, 17 trucks carrying humanitarian shelter items from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency crossed into the Northwest via Bab al-Salam."

Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra'ee, on the Turkish border, were opened for an initial period of three months in the aftermath of the February earthquakes.

The authorisation has been renewed several times.

Dujarric said the world body is yet to begin to make use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which was the major route of cross-border aid delivery into Northwest Syria before the Security Council failed in July to reauthorise its use.

The Syrian government had since offered to grant permission for aid delivery through Bab al-Hawa, also on the Turkish border, and reached an understanding on August 7 with the UN on the continued use of the crossing for six months.

"What is going on is that we're still trying to work out the operational details on how to put the agreement to work," said Dujarric. 

On February 6, two back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.8 and?7.7 on the Richter scale struck Turkey and Syria.

The confirmed death toll stood at 59,259 -- 50,783 in Turkey and 8,476 in Syria.

It was the deadliest earthquakes in both the neighbouring nations in recent history.