Life-saving aid reaches Kurdish-majority town: UN
Members of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrive at the Kurdish-held city of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobane on Jan 23, 2026, after they withdrew from the Al-Aqtan prison in the Raqa province of Syria. (Photo: AFP/-)
DAMASCUS: A UN humanitarian convoy arrived on Sunday in the Kurdish-majority town of Kobane, filled with people displaced by recent clashes in northern Syria, a spokesperson told AFP.
Earlier on Sunday (Jan 25), Syria's military said it had opened a humanitarian corridor to the town, also known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic, and once symbolic of Kurdish fighters' victory against the Islamic State group.
The aid came as the Syrian authorities and Kurdish forces extended a ceasefire agreement after Kurdish forces relinquished swathes of territory to government troops.
Earlier this week, residents in Kobane, told AFP that they lacked food, water and power and that the enclave was flooded with people who had fled the Syrian army's advances.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR spokesperson in Syria, Celine Schmitt, told AFP "the convoy has arrived".
The UN's humanitarian agency, OCHA, said earlier on X that the convoy of 24 trucks carried "life-saving aid, including fuel, bread, and ready-to-eat rations, to support people affected by recent developments".
The convoy was coordinated with the Syrian government, according to the UN.
In a statement, the Syrian military said it was opening two corridors, one to Kobane and another in nearby Hasakeh province to allow "the entry of aid".
The Turkish border to the north and government forces on all sides surround Kobane. It is around 200 kilometres from the Kurds' stronghold in Syria's far northeast.
Kurdish forces accused the Syrian army of imposing a siege on the town.
"CATASTROPHE"
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lost large areas to government forces during weeks-long clashes, and find themselves restricted to Kurdish-majority areas in the northeast and Kobane.
Kobane, which Kurdish forces liberated from a lengthy siege by the Islamic State group in 2015, became a symbol of their first major victory against the jihadists.
It took another four years for the SDF, supported by a US-led international coalition, to defeat the jihadists territorially in Syria.
Syria's new authorities are demanding that the SDF disband, and Washington has said the purpose of its alliance with the SDF has largely ended.
On Saturday, Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM party said the situation in Kobane had escalated from a crisis into a "deadly catastrophe", after it sent a delegation to visit the town.
