UN airlifts food to cut off families in northeast Syria

BEIRUT — The U.N. began airlifting humanitarian aid to families cut off from supplies in northeastern Syria, bringing 40 tons of food on a flight that landed in Qamishli, an area controlled by the Syrian government, the World Food Program said Sunday. Qamishli location map. AFP File Photo. The WFP said the flight landed the night before in Qamishli airport in Syria’s Hassakeh province. The agency estimates that 275,000 people living in many areas of the province have been cut off from food and other supplies for more than six months. It added that it will fly at least 25 rotations between the capital Damascus and Qamishli over the course of a month. The U.N. classifies Hassakeh as a “hard-to-reach area” although it is accessible by the Syrian government through Qamishli airport. Commercial flights land in Qamishli from Damascus several times a week. Road access into Hassakeh from inside the [...]