Moscow sends food aid to Syria

Russia has sent a large consignment of humanitarian supplies to Syria to help people affected by the unrest in the Arab country, Syrian state media reports.

“A Russian plane landed at Bassel al-Assad airport in (the coastal province of) Latakia on Tuesday, carrying 10 tons of food aid and blankets,” the official SANA news agency reported.

Citing an unnamed Russian diplomat, the agency added that Tuesday’s batch was Moscow’s fifth aid shipment to Syria.

Also on October 2012, Russia dispatched a shipment of humanitarian supplies, mainly medicine to Damascus.

Russia and China have opposed moves by the western nations to impose sanctions to pressure the Syrian government.

The Syria crisis began in mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence, and several international human rights organizations say the foreign-sponsored militants have committed war crimes.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

Damascus also says the West and its regional allies, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the armed groups.

In an interview recently broadcast on German television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad noted that the government did not start the conflict and the militant groups were the ones killing Syrian citizens and destroying the country’s infrastructure.