Iran food aid to arrive in Tripoli

The new convoy includes one truck carrying baby food and milk and 10 other trucks of bottled drinking water.

According to Hossein Akbari, the Iranian official in charge of the Libya aid convoy, Iran is the first country to send a relief cargo to Tripoli via land.

Akbari added that Iran started providing food aid to Libya almost six months ago, dispatching shipments to Tunisia and from there to Libya as well as sending aid to the opposition controlled Benghazi.

Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) has said that clean water and baby food are their mostly needed items and Tehran is supplying humanitarian relief accordingly, the Iranian official further explained.

Akbari went on to say that the NTC informs Tehran of its needs through Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) and that previous Iranian aid convoys to Libya included “medication, medical equipment, and other facilities.”

Recently, Libyan revolutionary leaders appealed for humanitarian aid for Tripoli as living conditions in the capital have become increasingly difficult due to the shortage of basic supplies.

“We are calling all the humanitarian organizations and telling them that Tripoli needs medicines, first aid products and surgical material,” said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of NTC late in August.

The NTC chief blamed “sabotage by Gaddafi's forces” for shortages of water and electricity in the capital.

This comes as the whereabouts of fugitive Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi still remain unknown.