Hassakeh governorate in North Eastern Syria is currently experiencing an extremely harsh winter, and has been consistently inaccessible for the humanitarian community during the latter half of 2013. The affected population urgently need assistance as the heavy snow has caused road blockages leaving this area severely isolated.
To meet this need, the Logistics Cluster had originally planned to facilitate the transportation of relief items by road via truck convoys from Iraq to Syria, however due to continual insecurity on the Syrian side of the border, it was crucial to find an alternative solution.
WFP, as the lead agency for the Logistics Cluster, fulfilling its mandate to fill logistics gaps, contracted an Ilyushin-76 aircraft in order to facilitate the transportation of urgent relief items to assist those displaced in North Eastern Syria. On 18 December, the first half of a shipment of 154 m³ of health kits, WASH and sanitation supplies on behalf of UNICEF was airlifted from Erbil, Iraq to Qamishly, Syria.
The airlifts were originally planned to begin one week earlier, but were set back when the Alexa snowstorm hit the region and forced Qamishly airport to shut down for several days, due to low visibility and excessive snow on the runway.
The second airlift, on behalf of UNICEF, took place on 19 December transporting items including water purification tablets, buckets, collapsible jerry cans, PVC pipes, and medical kits.
The Logistics Cluster is also conducting assessments of storage and transport capacity in Erbil, Iraq; the results of these assessments will be shared with the humanitarian community to support organisations planning to utilise this corridor for the Syria response.