THE first container of medical aid to be sent directly from Ireland to Aleppo in Syria has been prepared in Co Antrim.
Members of the Saint Vincent de Paul charity, refugees from Aleppo living in Northern Ireland and representatives of various churches gathered yesterday in Ballymena to prepare the delivery.
The container is the fifteenth that Saint Vincent de Paul has dispatched to help refugees to date but the first to go directly to Aleppo.
Aleppo has been one of the main battlegrounds of the civil war in Syria, with a devastating impact on people in the city.
Teams of volunteers have previously brought supplies to other locations affected by the refugee crisis such as the Greek island of Lesbos.
