UN aid supplies reach in Rukban camp

The largest United Nations humanitarian aid convoy since the start of the Syrian conflict has reached Rukban refugee camp, where thousands of desperate people are stranded in the desert close to the border with Jordan, the UN said on Wednesday.

The United Nations said the convoy of more than 100 trucks was carrying food, sanitation and hygiene supplies, and health assistance to the camp.

“Conditions at Rukban are increasingly desperate. The vast majority of people at the site are women and children who have been staying there for more than two years in harsh conditions,” Fadwa AbedRabou Baroud, a UN Damascus-based spokeswoman said.

Rukban, located close to the Tanf US military base in the desert near where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq converge, is home to between 40,000 to 50,000 people whose last UN aid convoy arrived in November.