Turkish aid agency to expand tent camp in Syria's Idlib

Turkish Red Crescent, locally known as Kizilay, will build a tent city with a capacity of holding 4000 people in Syria's northern province of Idlib.

Turkish Red Crescent's Syria coordinator Fatih Kokcan told Anadolu Agency on Thursday that the agency has already established 515 tents in Idlib's Kelbit village with the support of the state Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).

Kokcan said they plan to expand the number of tents to 750, which then expands the camp's capacity to 4000 people.

A school, prayer area and a health care center is to be established in the camp, said Kokcan.

He further added that 8000 loaves of Syrian bread will be baked at the camp and the remaining bread will be sent to those outside of the camps.

Ahmed Halef, who had arrived at the camp from Idlib's southern Sinjar region, told Anadolu Agency: "Assad regime's airstrikes and ground attacks have destroyed our homes. We have migrated to the Turkish border where we will be more safe."

He also expressed gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish Red Crescent. Halef added that they are in need of food and heating supplies.

The camp will also host families escaping from eastern Hama and assaults from southern Idlib.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held areas, while millions more were displaced. During the conflict, the Assad regime has been accused many times by international actors of targeting Syrian civilians with chemical weapons.