The United Nations on Sunday asked the Assad regime to allow airdrops of humanitarian aid — an operation that military experts say is complex, risky and not always that effective.
“One can imagine that the Assad army would get orders from Assad to prevent the drops, but this would be very bad for him on a political level,” said Jean-Claude Allard, an expert in military aeronautics at Paris’s Institute of International and Strategic Relations.
He said this would look bad for Assad because he was trying to position himself as a key player in the fight against ISIS.
However airdrops are very complicated in urban areas, The Gulf Today reported.
“We typically aim for inhabited areas, far from major highways. In an urban zone we need to find open spaces. An airport for example can do the trick,” said the military specialist.
Allard said the alternative was using a helicopter which can land on the equivalent of half a football field or make a drop from a few dozen metres, Agence France-Presse reported.
