Reporters Witness Delivery of Humanitarian Aid to Syrian Village

A group of over 30 international reporters were present during the delivery of more than 3 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the recently liberated village of al-Hhaffah on the border with Turkey, in Syria's Latakia province on Wednesday.

GHNAYMIYA (Sputnik) — The village, located some 12 miles from the border with Turkey, had been controlled by al-Nusra Front terrorist group. Several thousand people lived in Ghnaymiya before the war. Some 150 people met the Russian-Syrian humanitarian aid delivery earlier in the day.

"When the truce was declared, about 25 people were there at best, today we see that people are returning to their homes. Three tonnes of humanitarian aid were delivered to the locality and more will be delivered if necessary," a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, told reporters.

Last week, Russia and the United States reached an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria. The ceasefire, which took effect at midnight on Saturday, Damascus time, is generally holding across the country despite reports of minor violations.

On Tuesday, 33 international reporters came under artillery fire in an area near the Syrian-Turkish border in Latakia. Four reporters, from China, Canada, Bulgaria and Russia, suffered minor injuries.