A Saudi plane carrying relief aid for the victims of the devastating earthquake landed, on Tuesday, at Aleppo International Airport, according to an official in the Syrian Ministry of Transport, told AFP, and this is the first since Riyadh cut diplomatic relations with Damascus following the outbreak of the conflict more than ten years ago.
“This is the first plane coming from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than ten years,” said the official, who preferred not to be identified. He added, “The last flight was in February 2012.”
The Saudi plane is carrying, according to the Syrian official news agency, SANA, “35 tons of food aid.”
Saudi Arabia, which supported the Syrian opposition, after the earthquake, pledged to provide aid to the affected areas, including areas under the control of government forces.
“The landing of two Saudi planes has been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday,” Suleiman Khalil, a readiness official at the Syrian Ministry of Transport, told AFP.
He explained that it will be part of a “continuous air bridge”.
SANA published pictures showing a team from the Syrian Red Crescent receiving officials from the Saudi Red Crescent who were on board the plane.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia sent an aid convoy to the affected areas in northwestern Syria, which are under the control of jihadist and opposition factions.
And the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported the entry of “11 relief trucks provided by the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action, carrying 104 tons of food and shelter materials.”
A source at the King Salman Center had previously told AFP in Riyadh that the aid would be sent directly to Aleppo International Airport and to the Syrian Red Crescent, and that there were no direct channels of communication with the Syrian government.
In 2012, the League of Arab States suspended Syria’s membership, and several Arab countries cut ties with Damascus.
However, signs of openness towards Damascus have emerged in recent years, especially with the UAE, which reopened its embassy in Syria in 2018, before Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited the UAE last March.
The UAE is currently carrying out relief efforts in Syria and providing aid, which it said will not be less than $100 million.
In addition to calls of solidarity from his traditional allies, al-Assad received a call from his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on Tuesday, the first between the two men since al-Sisi assumed power in Egypt in 2014, despite the two countries maintaining security relations and limited diplomatic representation. He also received a similar call from the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the first in more than a decade.
A week after the violent 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, the death toll has exceeded 35,000 in the two countries, according to the latest non-final toll, and the United Nations has warned that it may “double.”
The conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people, displaced half a million others, and many of them have taken refuge in Turkey.
