Beirut, Lebanon
Reuters
The Syrian Government and Turkey-backed rebel forces have blocked more than 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering two zones in Aleppo province hit by last month’s deadly earthquake, Amnesty International said on Monday.
The aid, which included food, medical supplies, tents and fuel, was sent by Kurdish authorities, the rights group said.
Syrian woman Amina Raslan sits with her son and her grandchildren, at her son’s partially damaged home, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Aleppo, Syria, on 13th February, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Firas Makdesi/File photo
It said the Syrian Government had prevented 100 trucks carrying food, medical supplies and tents from entering Kurdish-majority areas of Aleppo city.
To the north, rebels blocked 30 trucks of fuel and other help from entering Afrin, an enclave that Turkish forces and allied rebels have held since they pushed out Kurdish fighters in 2018.
Some 5,700 people were killed by the Feb. 6 quake and aftershocks in Syria, which 12 years of conflict have carved up into competing regions and where aid deliveries had long been fraught with complications. Aleppo province is divided into government-, Kurdish- and rebel-controlled zones.
Those regional hostilities have largely stayed in place since the disaster, prompting accusations that life-saving aid was being politicised.
“These politically motivated obstructions of critical aid have had tragic ramifications, especially for search and recovery teams who need fuel to operate machinery,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Majzoub said all sides of the conflict should ensure that civilians “have unfettered access to aid”.
The United Nations and other humanitarian organisations have also criticised hardline Islamist forces in the north for blocking aid coming from government-held zones.
So far, most aid to opposition-held areas of Syria has come through three border crossings with neighbouring Turkey – two of which were opened exceptionally with the approval of President Bashar al-Assad.
Aid into government-controlled zones has come in by plane, truck and sea.
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Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Monday that Syria’s ageing and war-damaged water system around the north-western province of Aleppo is at risk of collapse after an earthquake struck a month ago.
Some 6,000 people were killed by the 6th February earthquake and aftershocks in Syria, with most of them dying in a rebel-held zone near the Turkish border.
The event also caused direct damage to water infrastructure there, reducing its effectiveness and raising the risk that contaminated water could seep in, the Geneva-based ICRC said in an emailed statement warning of a “possible collapse”.
“The possibility of devastating public health consequences as a knock-on effect from the earthquake is frighteningly high,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the Near and Middle East for the ICRC.
Already, cholera has spread in parts of Syria with at least two deaths reported since the earthquake.
Many rooftop water tanks were also destroyed during the earthquake, it said, creating additional strain on the system which is already impaired after 12 years of conflict.
– With EMMA FARGE
