The first convoy of humanitarian aid arrived in northern Syria, four days after the earthquake

The first humanitarian aid convoy for the earthquake victims on rebel-held areas of northern Syria crossed the Bab al-Hawa border crossing today, an official said.

AFP correspondent saw six truckswhich mainly carry tents and other necessities, to enter Syrian territory from Turkey.

According to Mazen Alukh, an official at the border crossing, this is help that was expected before Monday’s earthquake.

Earlier, UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said that Syrians affected by the deadly earthquake need “more than anything” in terms of aid.

“We need vital help,” Pedersen said to reporters from Geneva.

“It is desperately needed by civilians wherever they are, regardless of borders and boundaries. We need it immediately through the fastest, most direct and most effective ways.”

“We received assurances that we will be able to pass humanitarian aid” from Bab al-Hawa, he noted, asking “not to politicize” the provision of aid to the Syrian people, so that it reaches where they need it most.

At the same time, Turkey is today trying to open two more border crossings with Syria, so that humanitarian aid can pass to its neighboring country.

Bab al-Hawa, located in southern Turkey’s Hatay province, is currently the only passage through which vital aid is delivered to rebel-held areas of northern Syria, based on a UN Security Council decision.

“Some roads on the Syrian side of the border have been damaged. Our aid and international aid is having difficulty getting through because of the disasters,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu noted last Wednesday night.

“For this reason, we are trying to open two other passages” he said. “For humanitarian reasons we are also considering the opening of border crossings in areas under the control of the government” of Syria, he had added.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed thousands of people in Syria and Turkey, while tens of thousands more have been injured. Thousands of homes have been destroyed on both sides of the border, some from the first earthquake and others from the aftershocks that followed.

Humanitarian aid to the rebel-held areas of northern Syria arrives via Turkey under a cross-border mechanism created in 2014 following a UN resolution, which is regularly renewed. This mechanism is disputed by Damascus and its ally Russia, as they consider it to violate Syrian sovereignty.

RES-EMP

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