UN Medical Team Enters Yalda District of Damascus for 1st Time in 5 Months

Local Editor

The UN Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] has provided health care in the Yalda district of Damascus, Syria for the first time since September 2015.

"Today, Wednesday 9th March, distribution operations continued in the Damascus district of Yalda for the fourth consecutive week. A medical team composed of 1 medical officer, 1 nurse and 1 pharmacist accompanied the distribution team and provided much-needed basic primary healthcare to 250 civilians from the area. This is the first time that UNRWA was able to bring in a medical team to Yalda since 23 September 2015," UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said in a Wednesday statement.

UNRWA resumed humanitarian aid distribution operations in Yalda on February 13. It distributed 5,700 food parcels in the district during the first week following the resumption.

Syria has been in a state of war since 2011. The Syrian army had been fighting against several opposition factions and militant groups, including Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri "ISIS" group] extremists. The conflict has significantly damaged the country's economy and caused a humanitarian disaster.

A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. It was supported by Damascus, as well as by dozens of opposition groups on the ground. Daesh and other radicals operating in Syria are not part of the deal.

Last year, UN humanitarian agencies failed to reach affected territories in Syria amid fierce clashes between the Syrian army forces and opposition groups.

Since January 2016, over 230,000 of people had received humanitarian assistance in Syria, UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced on Wednesday.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team