Syria earthquake victims in desperate condition as Assad regime blocks Turkish aid

Already displaced and vulnerable after decades of civil war, earthquake victims in rebel-held northwestern Syria are in a particularly desperate situation.

According to the UN, about 4.5 million people live in northwestern Syria, 90 percent of whom survive on humanitarian aid. Medical supplies are in short supply, as is reliable infrastructure after years of bombing by government forces and their Russian allies. The earthquake blocked their only help.

Even before the natural disaster on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that hundreds of thousands of people in northwestern Syria would not be able to survive the harsh winter.

The earthquakes have added yet another disaster to what was already a disaster area.

According to the NGO, the only crossing from Turkey to an area approved by the UN for the transport of international aid has become useless.

Damascus is making matters worse by hindering efforts to get supplies to rebel-held strongholds by refusing to open more border crossings from Turkey. The Syrian regime is blocking the flow of Turkish aid to the region, fearing it will hinder its ability to eventually regain control there.

Turkey supported armed opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war.

Experts, including Kutaib Idlbi, head of the Atlantic Council, a Syrian think tank, say the Syrian government’s chances of helping rebel-held areas are slim.

Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbah met with Guterres on Monday and said he had asked the UN for help. But he added that any assistance should be agreed with his government and delivered from Syria, and not through the Turkish border.

Many Syrians seeking asylum in the northwest fear that their fate will again be in the hands of the ruthless Assad regime.

The United States has already ruled out the delivery of aid to the northwest via Damascus.

So says Ned Rice, spokesman for the US State Department. DefenderIt would be ironic, if not counterproductive, if we turned to a government that has been brutalizing its people for 12 years, gassing them, killing them, and answering for the many suffering they endured. bear.”

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock on Tuesday urged Russia to put pressure on the Assad regime, which she supports, so that more humanitarian aid can enter the country through Turkey.

Meanwhile, on the ground and against all odds, the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said they were facing a “Herculean task” with limited numbers and equipment to rescue those trapped under the rubble.

At least 900 people were killed and 2,300 wounded in the opposition-held Northwest, and that number is expected to “surge sharply,” the White Helmets rescue team said. Hundreds or thousands of people were trapped in collapsed buildings.

A member of the White Helmets in a village near Jisr al-Shugur, Idlib Governorate, said France 24: “A serious disaster has hit the civilian population in northwestern Syria. These buildings have already been weakened by impacts [carried out by the Syrian regime]. The earthquake destroyed the remains of these houses. There were six-storey buildings here. There are still civilians under the rubble,” he said.

Relief agencies say displaced quake survivors are now at risk due to harsh winter conditions.

Tanya Evans, country director for the International Rescue Committee for Syria, said: “Many in northwest Syria have been displaced up to 20 times and due to overburdened medical facilities, even before this tragedy, many could not access the necessary medical care. . urgently needed.”