First Saudi plane in a decade lands in Syria's government-held areas to deliver aid

A Saudi Arabian plane carrying aid to quake-hit Syria has landed in the country’s second largest city of Aleppo.

The Saudi plane, carrying 35 tonnes of aid, landed in Syria’s Aleppo International Airport on Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

"This is the first plane from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years," an official speaking to AFP said on condition of anonymity.

Saudi Arabia broke off relations with President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2012 and backed rebels in earlier stages of the war.

Riyadh has pledged aid to both rebel-held and government-controlled areas of the country.

In the government-controlled part of Syria, at least 1,414 people have died, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). Meanwhile, the rebel-run areas have reported at least 3,160 deaths.

At least 31,643 people have been killed in Turkey, the country's disaster agency said on Monday, since then the numbers have not been updated but they are widely expected to increase.