UN Aid Convoy Departs Aleppo for Besieged Kobani Amid Deepening Humanitarian Crisis

SOHR

The UN's aide convoy sent to Kobani in northern Syria.

A 24-truck humanitarian aid convoy departed from Aleppo on Sunday morning bound for Kobani in Western Kurdistan (North and East Syria), in an effort to ease the suffering of civilians affected by recent hostilities and the worsening humanitarian situation in the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the convoy, provided by the United Nations in cooperation with non-governmental organisations, is carrying essential food supplies, relief items, and heating fuel as part of a winter emergency response aimed at delivering life-saving assistance to displaced and affected families.

The UNHCR Representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas, confirmed that the convoy forms part of an urgent response to growing humanitarian needs, particularly in light of the severe winter conditions currently affecting the area.

Kobani has been under a tight siege imposed by the Syrian Interim Government for the seventh consecutive day, resulting in acute shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel, and other basic necessities. The situation has deteriorated into what humanitarian organisations describe as a catastrophic crisis, exacerbated by bitter cold weather and ongoing military tensions between government-affiliated forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The arrival of the convoy has been met with widespread anticipation among residents, many of whom fear further deterioration in living conditions.

SOHR stated that Kobani has been completely isolated from its surroundings, with the siege tightened by interim government-affiliated forces and their allies, leading to a near-total halt in the flow of food and essential goods into the city.

For weeks, Kobani has also been receiving tens of thousands of displaced people from surrounding villages, as well as from Raqqa, Tabqa, and Ain Issa, fleeing violence and insecurity. Many displaced families are sheltering in schools, public buildings, agricultural tractors, or even on the streets, amid snowfall and freezing temperatures. The growing influx—particularly of Kurdish families—has placed immense pressure on the city’s already limited resources, forcing many households to survive on a single meal a day or rely on remaining canned food supplies.

The SOHR previously reported that four children died in Kobani due to extreme cold.

The city has been completely cut off from its water supply for more than a week due to power outages that have halted water pumping operations. Residents have been forced to melt snow and store it for drinking and daily use.

Kobani is also experiencing a total blackout of electricity, internet, and telecommunications following the destruction of Rcell communication towers in the Sarrin area in northern Syria. The towers, along with their batteries and generators, were reportedly targeted and looted, further isolating the city and severely hindering documentation efforts, humanitarian coordination, and appeals for assistance.

The crisis has intensified with falling temperatures, leading to a surge in chest illnesses and severe respiratory infections, particularly among children and the elderly, amid a critical shortage of heating fuel. On the health front, SOHR reported that oxygen supplies ran out at one of Kobani’s hospitals, resulting in the deaths of several children and a man in his forties, alongside severe shortages of medicine and baby formula.

The situation has heightened fears among Kobani’s residents—particularly the Kurdish majority—over the possibility of government forces entering the city, amid the absence of credible guarantees for civilian protection. These fears are rooted in collective Kurdish memories of documented violations committed by such forces in Afrin and Ras al-Ayn.



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