The UN said this Wednesday that it hopes to be able to supply tomorrow from Turkey helps northwestern areas of Syria controlled by the opposition and affected by the earthquakesand so far they have received no assistance.
LOOK HERE: The newborn baby rescued alive and with the umbilical cord intact among the rubble of the earthquake in Syria
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Syrian crisis, Muhannad Hadiexplained by videoconference that the usual aid delivery operations across that border have been paralyzed by the closure of a key highway in Turkey.
"Fortunately today we heard that the road is opening up," said Hadi, who was hopeful about the possibility of accessing the border and being able to provide some aid tomorrow.
The Bab al Hawa border crossing, which links the Syrian province of Idlib with Turkey, is the main delivery route for humanitarian assistance to areas in northwestern Syria that remain under rebel control and have been hit hard by Monday's earthquakes. .
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NOT A SINGLE AID TRUCK HAS ENTERED
Today, the authorities that control that pass denounced that, despite the fact that it has not been directly affected, no help has arrived in the three days that have passed since the earthquakes.
“On the third day since the destructive earthquake that struck areas of southern Turkey and northern Syria, from the direction of the Bab al Hawa border crossing we affirm that as of the date of this publication it has not reached the liberated areas of northwestern Turkey. Syria no help of any kind”they alerted in a statement.
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Relatives of missing people wait next to the rubble in Hatay, southeastern Turkey, on February 8, 2023, two days after a strong earthquake struck the region. (Photo: BULENT KILIC / AFP)
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The note specifies that no truck or "from the ONU" nor from any other organization, and affirmed that the personnel at the crossing are "totally willing" to facilitate the passage of convoys, volunteer personnel or machinery to help in the removal of rubble.
Already yesterday, a United Nations spokesman had explained that although the Bab al Hawa pass was "intact", the damage to roads in the area had prevented the movement of convoys.
LOOK HERE: The heartbreaking photo of a father holding the hand of his dead 15-year-old daughter amid the rubble of the earthquake in Turkey
Today, Hadi assured that there are already trucks ready to deliver aid, pending only confirmation of the possibility of reaching the Bab al Hawa border, the use of which has been authorized for years by the UN Security Council to assist the population of Idlib and nearby areas that are not controlled by the Government of Damascus.
At the same time, he explained that efforts are being made to organize the shipment of aid from inside Syria, through the front lines, a route that has usually been much less used due to the difficulties of coordinating the different parties to the conflict.
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A man reacts as the body of his baby is pulled from the rubble by a Syrian White Helmets rescuer, in the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, on the border with Turkey, on February 8, 2023. (Photo: Mohamed AL-RIFAI / AFP)
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In the last six or seven months, nine convoys have passed through this route, while aid enters almost daily through Bab al Hawa, according to the United Nations.
Asked about the obstacles to operations across the front, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, assured that Bashar al-Assad's government is not being a problem and that it is trying to facilitate movements.
CHECK HERE: Syrian opposition areas have received no aid, border officials say
Benlamlih and Hadi avoided pointing fingers, recalling that it is a "war zone" and that everything is very complicated, but they urged all parties to facilitate the movement of assistance to support those affected by the earthquakes as soon as possible.
More than 4 million people reside in the opposition areas of Idlib and Aleppo, most of whom already required humanitarian aid before the earthquakes and three million of whom are internally displaced, many of them women and children.
In them, more than 1,400 deaths and 2,700 injured by the tragedy have already been recorded, while the total balance in Syria amounts to more than 2,600 deaths and almost 5,000 injured, adding the areas in the hands of Damascus.
