Image source, Getty Images
Buildings were destroyed in parts of northwestern Syria, such as Jindayris
Syria’s government has agreed to allow the UN to use two more border crossings to deliver aid to opposition-held northwest areas devastated by earthquakes last week, the UN said.
“This will make a big difference. We are currently only using one crossing,” a UN spokesman told the BBC.
But the White Helmets rescue group criticized the UN for waiting for the approval of President Bashar al-Assad.
Many Syrians are angry at the lack of aid for their war-torn country.
Countries with friendly relations with Mr Assad, including Russia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, began flying supplies to areas controlled by the Syrian government after earthquakes struck neighboring southern Turkey eight days ago.
But the opposition-held northwest – where some 4.1 million people depended on humanitarian aid to survive even before the disaster – did not receive aid from the UN through Turkey until Thursday.
The UN blamed the damage on the roads leading to the Bab al-Hawa crossing, which is the only land route the UN Security Council allows it to use.
On Monday, 58 aid trucks crossed the opposition enclave, carrying food, tents and medicine. However, they did not include the heavy machinery and other specialized equipment requested by the White Helmets, whose first responders led the rescue effort there.
The use of any other crossings into Turkey has been vetoed by Russia, a key ally of Mr Assad, and China since 2020. Until now, they have insisted that all other UN deliveries must go through Damascus and cross the front lines, although only 10 convoys were approved in the whole of last year.
The UN made the announcement about the use of the Bab al-Salam and al-Raee border crossings – which are both controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian rebels – after high-level talks with President Assad in Damascus on Monday.
It said the crossings will initially be open for three months.
“Soon we will use the other two crossings,” UN Secretary General António Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight program.
“We hope that the agreement will last until we need to use it. We will start using it as soon as possible and I don’t want to make any assumptions, all I want to think is that people will put politics wherever they stand in this conflict.”
He did not give more details about when the two crossings will be opened and defended the delay in waiting for the government’s approval.
“We understand that other aid organizations that are not affiliated with the UN use these border crossings. We have to operate within certain perimeters, that is the nature of the United Nations.”
Mr Assad did not comment on the announcement. But when a reporter asked why it took a week, his envoy to the UN, Bassam al-Sabbagh, replied: “Why are you asking me?… We are not the ones who control these borders.”
The head of the White Helmets accused Mr Assad of a “cynical step too late” and criticized the UN’s decision to seek his approval.
“The UN’s insistence on waiting for the approval of the Syrian regime — the very regime that has bombed, gassed, starved, forcibly displaced and imprisoned millions of Syrians — is inexcusable,” he wrote in a piece in opinion for CNN.
“It is no secret that the Syrian regime is not a reliable partner in addressing the suffering of all Syrians in a neutral and impartial manner.”
Mr Saleh separately told the Reuters news agency that the search operation for survivors under the collapsed buildings in the north-west was almost over.
“The indications we have are that there is none [survivors]but we try to do our final checks and on all sites,” he said.
The White Helmets are currently reporting 2,274 dead and 12,400 wounded in the northwest.
Satellite photos released by Maxar on Monday showed the devastation in Jindayris, a town near the Turkish border where they said more than 200 buildings were completely destroyed.
The White Helmets recovered at least 517 bodies in Jindayris and described the situation there as “catastrophic”.
The government reported 1,414 dead and 2,349 injured across its territory.
Aleppo province has been badly affected, with more than 200,000 people displaced, according to the UN.
