Hezbollah dispatches aid convoy to quake-hit Syrian province

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s powerful Shiite terror organization Hezbollah sends a convoy of 23 trucks carrying food and medical aid to Syria’s quake-stricken province of Latakia, a stronghold of the group’s allies.

“This the moment of support, the moment of assistance,” senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine tells reporters in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

It comes six days after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing more than 33,000 people in total, including over 3,500 in Syria.

Latakia, located in Syria’s northwestern region, is a stronghold for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah is a key ally of Assad’s regime and has openly been fighting alongside his forces since April 2013.

Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian conflict has helped tip the scales in favor of Assad on many fronts.

Adnan Moqadem, general director of civil defense in Hezbollah’s health authority, says this first convoy “will be followed by others.”

The convoy, carrying “food, health and household supplies,” will be delivered to the Red Crescent and Syrian officials, Moqadem says.

The trucks carries banners marked with both the Syrian flag and that of Hezbollah.