Before the earthquake struck, almost all of the crucial humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in rebel-controlled areas of northwestern Syria was being delivered from Turkey through one conduit -- the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
"Opening these crossing points -- along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs -- will allow more aid to go in, faster," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
He said Assad had agreed to open the two crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee from Turkey to northwest Syria for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid.
Guterres noted that with the toll from the earthquake still rising, and with survivors exposed to harsh winter conditions in war-torn Syria, "delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency."
The announcement came a day after World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met Assad in Damascus to discuss the response to the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey last week.
The situation is particularly dire in the rebel-held area in the northwest of Syria, which cannot receive aid convoys from government-held parts of the country without Damascus's authorization.
The lone border crossing open to shuttle aid from Turkey also saw its operations disrupted by the quake.
Humanitarian aid in rebel-held areas usually arrives through Turkey via a cross-border mechanism created in 2014 by a UN Security Council resolution.
But it has long been contested by Damascus and its ally Moscow, who see it as a violation of Syrian sovereignty.
Under pressure from Russia and China, the number of crossing points has been reduced over time from four to one.
The WHO chief said Sunday after meeting Assad that "the compounding crises of conflict, Covid, cholera, economic decline and now the earthquake have taken an unbearable toll."
The United States said new border openings would be a positive for Syria if Assad is serious about the pledge to open them.
"If the regime is serious about this, and if the regime is willing to put those words into action, that would be a good thing for the Syrian people," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Syria's Assad urges UN for help rebuilding after quake
Damascus (AFP) Feb 13, 2023 -
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called Monday for international aid for reconstruction in the quake-struck country during a meeting with United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths, the presidency said.
After more than a decade of war, Assad's government remains a pariah in the West, complicating international efforts to assist those affected by the quake.
Assad "stressed the importance of international efforts focused on helping to rebuild infrastructure in Syria," the statement said.
More than 35,000 people were killed in Syria and Turkey after the tremor struck both nations on February 6, including more than 3,500 in Syria, officials and rescuers said.
Damascus often blames its financial woes on Western sanctions imposed in the wake of the 2011 conflict, that began with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global jihadists.
Despite the sanctions, government-controlled parts of the country receive international aid through UN agencies, many of which have headquarters in Damascus.
Griffiths also met Monday with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Damascus after visiting government-controlled Aleppo, where more than 200,000 people have been left homeless by the earthquake, according to the World Health Organization.
He told reporters in Aleppo that the UN was looking to raise money for the organisations helping Syrians cope with the disaster.
"The appeals that will go out in the next day or so -- one for Syria, one for Turkiye -- will cover about three months of the humanitarian needs," he said.
Aid has been slow to arrive in Syria, where nearly 12 years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling Assad's government.
Griffiths admitted Sunday that the UN had "so far failed the people in northwest Syria".
Before the earthquake struck, almost all of the humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in rebel-controlled areas of northwestern Syria was being delivered from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
Aid delivery through Bab al-Hawa was interrupted by the quake but has since resumed, and calls to open other crossings are multiplying.
On Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization also met Assad and said that he had voiced openness to more border crossings for aid to be brought to quake victims in the country's rebel-held northwest.
Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless by the devastating earthquake which rocked the region, according to the UN.
Saudi plane carrying aid lands in Syria, first in decade
Aleppo, Syria (AFP) Feb 14, 2023 -
A Saudi Arabian plane carrying aid to quake-hit Syria landed in second city Aleppo Tuesday -- the first in more than a decade of war, a transport ministry official told AFP.
Planeloads of foreign aid have landed in Syria since a 7.8-magnitude quake struck the war-torn country and neighbouring Turkey killing more than 35,000 people.
"This is the first plane from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press.
The Saudi plane landed at Aleppo International Airport carrying 35 tonnes of food aid, state news agency SANA reported.
Two more Saudi planes are scheduled to land Wednesday and Thursday, another transport ministry official, Suleiman Khalil, told AFP.
The last such flight landed in Syria in February 2012.
After more than a decade of war, President Bashar al-Assad's government remains a pariah in the West, complicating international efforts to assist those affected by the quake.
The Arab League suspended Syria in 2011 and some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have severed ties.
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.
On Saturday, it sent a first aid convoy of 11 trucks to rebel-held northwestern Syria, loaded with 104 tonnes of food and tarpaulins, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
There was no direct contact with the Assad government, an official at King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre told AFP earlier.
More than 3,600 people have been killed by the quake in Syria alone, according to the government and emergency services in the rebel-held northwest.
The mostly government-controlled province of Aleppo was badly hit, with more than 200,000 people left homeless, according to the World Health Organization.
Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes, with many taking refuge in Turkey.
Even before Monday's earthquake, the majority of the population was in need of humanitarian assistance. The latest disaster has only piled on more misery.
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