Press Statement on the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Foah, Kafarya Zabadani and surrounding towns

Damascus: October 19, 2015

On Sunday, three convoys of 31 trucks with medical and humanitarian supplies for 30,000 people were delivered simultaneously to Fouah and Kefrayah in Idlib governorate and Zabadani and Madaya in Rural Damascus governorate. The number of people reached is expected to rise to 40,000 people in the next 48 hours. This was a joint UN/ICRC/Syrian Arab Red Crescent operation under the framework of the Zabadani/Fouah and Kefrayah ceasefire agreement reached in Istanbul on 22 September, 2015 with the facilitation of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria.

The humanitarian and medical supplies to Zabadani and surrounding towns were delivered from Damascus. Deliveries to Foah and Kefrayah were made from UN stocks in Southern Turkey in line with Security Council Resolutions 2165 and 2191 which authorized UN agencies and their partners to deliver cross-border humanitarian assistance to people in need inside Syria.

Yesterday’s mission was critical as it allowed humanitarian actors to reach thousands of people in these besieged and hard to reach locations with the needed assistance. Negotiations continue to deliver further humanitarian and medical supplies. The United Nations and partners now look forward to the implementation of the remaining points covered under the agreement including the urgent evacuation of the critically wounded. The United Nations calls on the parties to facilitate these urgent life-saving and humanitarian actions.