The government said that the Armenian Interior Ministry will deliver food and medicines worth 49 million drams ($125,000) to Syrians who have found themselves in “difficult socioeconomic situations.”
It will be the second such delivery since the fall late last year of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime with which Armenia’s current and former governments maintained a cordial relationship. Several truckloads of aid were provided to Syria via neighboring Turkey late last month. Ankara briefly opened a Turkish-Armenian border crossing for that purpose.
It is not clear whether the latest shipment will also be carried out by land and through Turkish territory. Armenia had previously sent humanitarian aid to Syria by air.
Yerevan was quick to establish contacts with Syria’s new, Turkish-backed government formed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist militant group. A senior Armenian diplomat visited Damascus in January.
The new Syrian leadership has assured Syria’s Armenian community and other minorities that their security and rights will be protected. Concerns for their future were reignited earlier in March by the reported killings of hundreds of civilians blamed on Syrian government forces.
