CENTOM: More Than 569 Tons of Aid Delivered Across Floating Pier Into Gaza

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Satellite image 2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Satellite image 2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
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CENTOM: More Than 569 Tons of Aid Delivered Across Floating Pier Into Gaza

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Satellite image 2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Satellite image 2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered so far across a temporary floating pier to Gaza, but not all the aid has reached warehouses.

Aid deliveries began arriving at a US-built pier on Friday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, Reuters reported.

The UN said that 10 truckloads of food aid - transported from the pier site by UN contractors - were received on Friday at a World Food Program warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza.

But on Saturday, only five truckloads made it to the warehouse after 11 others were cleaned out by Palestinians during the journey through an area that a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said has been hard to access with humanitarian aid.

The UN did not receive any aid from the pier on Sunday or Monday.



Syria Vows to Rid Itself of Assad’s Chemical Weapons Legacy

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria Vows to Rid Itself of Assad’s Chemical Weapons Legacy

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria's foreign minister vowed on Wednesday to swiftly rid the country of chemical weapons remaining after the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad's government, and appealed to the international community for help.

Asaad Hassan al-Shibani spoke during closed-door meetings at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, where he became the first Syrian foreign minister to address the disarmament agency.

Following a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in 2013, Assad-led Syria joined the agency under a US-Russian deal and 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons and precursors were destroyed.

But three inquiries - by a joint UN-OPCW mechanism, the OPCW's Investigation and Identification team, and a UN war crimes probe - concluded that Syrian government forces under Assad used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine barrel bombs in attacks during the civil war that killed or injured thousands.

As part of membership, Damascus was supposed to undergo inspections but for more than a decade the OPCW was prevented from uncovering the true scale of the chemical weapons program.

"Syria is ready ... to solve this decades-old problem imposed on us by a previous regime," Shibani told delegates.

"The legal obligations resulting from breaches are ones we inherited, not created. Nevertheless, our commitment is to dismantle whatever may be left from it, to put an end to this painful legacy and ensure Syria becomes a nation aligned with international norms."

Earlier on Wednesday, OPCW chief Fernando Arias called Syria's political shift "a new and historic opportunity to obtain clarifications on the full extent and scope of the Syrian chemical weapons program".

Shibani said planning had begun, but that the help of the international community would be critical. Syria would require technical assistance, logistical assistance, capacity building, resources and expertise on the ground, he said.

"Although the Assad regime stalled for many years, we understand the need to act quickly, but we also understand that this needs to be done thoroughly. For that, we cannot succeed alone," he said.

Syria's declared stockpile has never accurately reflected the situation on the ground, OPCW inspectors have concluded. They now want to visit roughly 100 sites that may have been tied to Assad's decades-old chemical weapons program.