A shipment of further humanitarian aid for Syria took place on January 20, 2017. It was the joint effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Administration of State Material Reserves and Czech Embassy in Damascus. Czech Army provided the Casa cargo plane. The shipment contained four tons of milk powder which is to be distributed further by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Despite complicated circumstances this organization still operates on most of Syrian territory. Shortly after this aid, there will be yet another shipment of the same amount of milk powder, this time alongside a load of toys coming from private collections.
All this material is intended for the internally displaced people and the shipment is a part of the governmental program of providing humanitarian, developmental and reconstruction aid to Syria in the period of 2016 – 2019. It is based on the relevant UNSC resolutions. Previous shipments took place in May, October and December of the last year and contained also various medical equipment. Altogether these shipments amounted to the value of 7.6 million Czech Crowns.
Besides this material help, the Czech Republic provides medical care, temporary dwelling, food and education to the Syrian population afflicted by the conflict within the country and to the refugees in the nearby countries. In the year 2016 this kind of aid amounted to the sum over 200 million Czech Crowns.