Providing Logistical Support and Facilitation Services for Cross Border Humanitarian Relief Operations of Humanitarian Actors Operating from Turkey to Syria Ever since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the Turkish Red Crescent has been actively involved in the delivery of vital humanitarian relief supplies to those affected. As a part of these services, the ‘Syria Crisis Humanitarian Relief Operations’ of the TRC has been launched on April 29, 2011. In addition, the TRC has been providing facilitation services for the Cross-Border delivery of humanitarian relief supplies since 2012. The TRC’s facilitation services for partner humanitarian organizations include but are not limited to assisting humanitarian organizations in the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies into Syria, enabling import and export with waivers, fast tracking at the border crossings, enabling the use of additional humanitarian aid border crossings, coordination of cross-border shipments to avoid prolonged waiting times at the border crossings as well as to maintain a comprehensive record for the humanitarian relief supplies that have been delivered. In addition, the TRC maintains close dialogue with both humanitarian relief partners as well as Turkish authorities in order to ensure that rules and regulations regarding customs formalities, cross-border delivery of humanitarian relief supplies as well as VAT exemption applications of NGO’s are undertaken in accordance with required steps. 
Since 2012, an average of 500 humanitarian relief trucks per month have been facilitated to beneficiaries in need in Syria as a part of the Cross-Border facilitation services. In the year 2019, a total of 3,999 trucks of humanitarian relief materials have been delivered Cross-Border through TRC assistance. In 2020, as of end of January, 668 number of trucks have been facilitated through TRC. In emergency cases, TRC has the capacity to facilitate more than 1.500 humanitarian relief trucks per month. Since the beginning of TRC’s facilitation activities in 2012, a total of 48,565 trucks of humanitarian relief supplies have been facilitated. 
TRC’s border relief services are important for the Cross-Border response of the humanitarian community because of its capacity to undertake these services through humanitarian border crossing points. In the event of any closures of commercial border crossing points from Turkey into Syria, the TRC is thus able to ensure that the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies into Syria continues through humanitarian channels. The sectoral breakdown of the humanitarian relief items facilitated by the TRC are food items % 38, NFI 35 %, Health 16 %, WASH 4 %, Shelter 4%. 
As a part of its humanitarian relief operations, the TRC coordinates its activities for the Cross-Border response from its ‘Syria Humanitarian Relief Operations Coordination Center’ located in Gaziantep. In addition, the TRC has cross-border facilitation activities in Gaziantep, Kilis, Hatay, Şanlıurfa and Mardin in order to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies through 14 Border Relief Points. The Syria Humanitarian Relief Operations of the TRC utilizes 96 staff members.  
This project is vital in ensuring that the total amount of humanitarian assistance facilitated to date by the TRC, which has reached in excess of 1.06 Billion USD, continues to increase. Thus humanitarian organizations will be encouraged to use humanitarian channels when delivering assistance to beneficiaries in Syria. These services enable the keeping of a comprehensive record by the TRC in regards to the type and amount of humanitarian relief supplies delivered. These records are kept under a strictly confidential status by the TRC thus ensuring the privacy of the relevant humanitarian organization. Data regarding the total amount of humanitarian relief supplies delivered are used as a guide to fill existing gaps in the delivery of the humanitarian relief supplies.