Ukraine sent 500 tons of wheat flour to Syria as aid under the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program.
This was announced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Over the coming weeks, 33,250 families, or 167,000 people, will receive flour. Each package weighs 15 kilograms and can feed a family of five for a month.
"We wish Syria and its people security, stability, and recovery. We know the true value of these things," the president noted.
Grain from Ukraine is a humanitarian food program launched on November 26, 2022, on the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-1933. Its goal is to deliver grain to the poorest countries in Africa. The program has now been expanded to include Syria.
The humanitarian situation in Syria remains dire, despite the fall of former President Bashar al-Assadʼs regime. According to the UN, more than 12 million Syrians lack adequate access to food. The World Food Programme notes that three million Syrians are facing acute hunger. The civil war has destroyed agricultural production, significantly reduced food imports and caused prices to rise.
The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria
On December 8, 2024, the Syrian opposition entered the Syrian capital, Damascus, and overthrew the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years. Assad himself fled to Moscow.
Syrian rebels have already begun forming a transitional government — it will be headed by Muhammad Bashir, who headed the "Salvation Government" — a political structure created in 2017 in territories controlled by the Syrian opposition, primarily in the province of Idlib.
The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group and de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa (better known as Muhammad al-Julani), has said that the country is exhausted by war and poses no threat to its neighbors or the West. He is calling for the lifting of international sanctions on Syria, as they were imposed against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which has already fallen.
Civil War in Syria
The Syrian civil war has been ongoing since 2011. It began as a local conflict that gradually grew into an uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Over time, it has drawn not only the major regional powers, but also international organizations, military-political groups, and other countries.
The main participants in the conflict were regular military formations supporting former President Bashar al-Assad, the “moderate” Syrian opposition, Kurdish regionalists, and various terrorist groups. The parties to the conflict received military assistance from other states: Russia and Iran supported the government forces, while the Syrian opposition received assistance from Western states, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf monarchies.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah also aided the Assad regime in the civil war and was present in Syria. However, it has now concentrated its forces in Lebanon to repel an Israeli offensive in the south of the country. In the conflict, Hezbollah has lost thousands of fighters, as well as its commanders and leader Hassan Nasrallah.
As for Russiaʼs support, it has come to the aid of President Bashar Assad since 2011. Russia sent weapons to the country that the Syrian troops were accumulating, and also maintained its own military bases with weapons there.
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