MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief (EMERCOM), has sent 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Syria, official ministry representative Aleksander Drobyshevsky said Thursday.
“An Il-76 aircraft with 30 tons of humanitarian aid on board departed from Moscow Region’s Ramenskoye airfield for Syria,” Drobyshevsky said, adding that the aircraft will deliver food products to Syrians.
According to the UN, the ongoing civil war in Syria has claimed more than 170,000 lives, nearly a third of them civilians, since the conflict began in March 2011. In Syria, government forces are opposed by numerous groups of armed rebels, including the Islamic State (IS) Sunni militant group. In June the IS launched an offensive in northern and western Iraq, announcing the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.
