Tag: Middle East

Since 9 February, 143 trucks have passed through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “The movements continue today, they continue over the weekend and will continue every day for as long as the needs are there,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva.

Asked about earthquake damage to roads leading to the aid corridors, the OCHA spokesperson referred to information that “all the roads through all the crossing points are passable and you can drive there…I was myself at Bab al-Hawa a few days ago and the trucks were indeed rolling across”.

Amid massive devastation in both Türkiye and Syria after the double quake strike on 6 February, relief workers continue to stress that the full extent of disaster is still unfolding. Echoing that message, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Thursday that earthquake damage in Syria threatens “immediate and longer-term food security” in Syria.

In Türkiye, it’s estimated that more than 15 million people have been affected, while in Syria, 8.8 million have been impacted. Humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, as relief teams have seen first-hand in Aleppo, particularly after more than a decade of war.

Cracks in buildings – and people

“I was quite overwhelmed by not only the magnitude of the destruction but the loss that was inflicted on families, you know, during only 60 seconds,” said Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Director for the Near and Middle East.

“For the first time I saw that there was not only a crack, and cracks in the buildings, but for the first time I really saw that our colleagues, the people you talked to in Syria, they were really wounded, and something is broken.”

Aid blocked from Damascus

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the ICRC official also issued a strong appeal for crossline aid deliveries from Damascus to be allowed through to the largely opposition-held northwest: “We tried to get into Idlib through crossline and so far we’ve been blocked, unfortunately. So, I don’t have first-hand information on the roads and access but we’re ready to get in but we are so far blocked to do crossline, hoping that this could change soon.”

Hot meals, family rations

As part of the UN-wide response, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Thursday that it has stepped up its emergency response to nearly half a million quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria, providing hot meals, emergency ready-to-eat food packages and family food rations.

“Families tell me they left everything behind when the earthquake hit, running for their lives. WFP’s food is a lifeline for them; while they think about their next steps in the destruction left by the earthquake, their children can eat,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and East Europe.

She added: “We have scaled up rapidly and requests for more food are coming every day from municipalities and communities. We are there for them, but WFP can’t do it alone. We urgently appeal for funding to help us reach those in need.”

Averting a health disaster

Needs remain massive but the international response is gaining momentum, both in Türkiye and Syria, confirmed Caroline Holt, global director for operations at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC):

“In Türkiye, we’re very much supporting with the Turkish Red Crescent on the ground to support with shelter needs, with food, with wash, with health and also with cash.”

In Syria, the IFRC is working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to support people with basic needs and household items, including health, psychosocial support and clean water. With cholera already present in Syria, access to safe water “is absolutely critical to avoid that second potential disaster, that second health disaster unfolding”, Ms. Holt said.

UN-led flash appeals for both countries have been issued this week – a $1 billion request for Türkiye to help 5.2 million people for three months and a $397 million humanitarian appeal for nearly five million people in Syria – jumpstarted by a $50 million funding injection from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund.

Farming communities badly hit, too

Highlighting the need for sustained assistance in the region, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stressed that more help was needed for farming communities impacted by the crisis.

They are still reeling from the disaster, not least those who have opened their homes to survivors from nearby towns and cities.

Urgent needs include assessing the extent of damage to agriculture and food supply chains, including irrigation systems, roads, markets and storage capacity.

Food security threat long-term

In Syria, worrying early indications suggest major disruption to crop and livestock production capacity which threaten “immediate and longer-term food security”, FAO said.

“This includes damage and loss to livestock, agricultural equipment and infrastructure such as greenhouses, irrigation, storage facilities, as well as food and feed production facilities, among others.”

To support and help rural communities reinstate basic food production, FAO noted that its priority activities included supplying animal feed, seed, seedlings, fertilizer, fuel, tools, equipment, livestock vaccination and unconditional cash transfers for one to three months.

Job support in Türkiye

In Türkiye, FAO has supported displaced and host community families affected by the earthquakes too, with a focus on supporting jobs. The FAO Syria Refugee Resilience Plan aims to support 250,000 people with $71.8 million in funding.

Ahead of a briefing to journalists in New York on Wednesday, Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for Arab States, spoke to UN News from Aleppo, where women are clamouring for peace amid the rubble of the disaster and the ravages of war. 

“Without fault, in every group of women, individual or collective, their message was the same: We’ve had enough. We are exhausted, and we want reconciliation. We want peace. And we hope that during this very dark moment, that it’ll be a moment where everyone’s hearts and minds are open to the possibilities of peace,” she said. 

Immense humanitarian needs 

The death toll from the double earthquakes that struck Syria and neighbouring Türkiye continues to rise and has surpassed 41,000, according to media reports.   

Close to nine million people in Syria alone have been impacted, UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported, and damage is worse in the northwest – the last opposition stronghold – where needs were already at a record high in nearly 12 years of conflict. 

More than 4,700 buildings have been destroyed, entire streets have been demolished, and 4.2 million people in Aleppo, and another three million in Idlib, have been affected. 

UNFPA is the UN’s reproductive and sexual health agency and Ms. Baker has been visiting its clinics in the city, as well as makeshift shelters, and talking to partners and emergency response personnel. 

While the level and scale of the devastation is impossible to comprehend, the damage goes much deeper. 

Collapsed buildings, dashed hopes 

“It’s not just the physical destruction that is compounded by over a decade of conflict and war,” she said. 

“It’s the cumulative exhaustion of a people who have been fighting for their vital existence and now feel that the very moment that they’re starting to return to some normalcy and see hope and light at the end of the tunnel, the natural disaster, this massive earthquake, has literally crumbled their hopes the way that the buildings have crumbled during the earthquake itself.” 

Women and girls comprise the majority of people now in shelters in north and northwest Syria, or who have been displaced. 

Prior to the earthquake, UNFPA and partners were running several initiatives to provide safe birth delivery and maternal health services, as well as protection from gender-based violence. 

Dignity amid destruction  

“Those have had to scale up massively,” said Ms. Baker, adding that services have also been integrated and expanded to makeshift shelters, mosques, schools and even parks, where conditions are less than ideal. 

“I say ‘shelter’, but I use the term loosely. None of these makeshift shelters are equipped for human residents. They lack water. They lack good sanitation, electricity, heating. It was cold, it was dark in some places, but we are trying with our partners on the ground to provide vital services.” 

UNFPA has distributed “dignity kits” to nearly 40,000 women and families in Aleppo alone, providing them with basic hygiene products and other personal care items that help instill a sense of normalcy. 

The agency is also working with partners to supply medical equipment to the two hospitals there that are still functioning.   

‘Peace for health’ 

The ongoing war has left the Syrian healthcare system in tatters.  Just half of all health facilities were operational prior to the earthquake, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Senior WHO officials were in the country this past weekend, including agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of its Health Emergencies Programme. 

“I saw the destruction of entire communities, the unspeakable suffering and the determination of survivors and responders,” said Tedros, speaking on Wednesday during his regular media briefing from Geneva. 

WHO is providing care to survivors, from psycho-social needs to medicines, he said, though noting that “the task of saving lives is only just beginning.” 

“We need peace for health,” Dr. Ryan added. “From a humanitarian perspective, the scale-up is moving forward. However, our support will depend on the conditions” on the ground.

Massive response operation 

The support provided by WHO and UNFPA is part of the wider relief and rescue efforts mounted by the international community in the face of the colossal catastrophe in Syria and Turkiye. 

For example, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) helped provide micronutrient supplements for 113,000 under-fives and 1,000 pregnant and lactating women for three months, the UN reported on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been distributing ready-to-eat meals and other food items to displaced families.   

“We are working hand-in-hand with the rest of the United Nations team here on the ground to ensure better coordination amongst ourselves so that the most needy get the quickest service,” said Ms. Baker.  

“It is a massive operation and beyond compare and nothing that one single agency, or one single country, can possibly cope with.”  

A step towards reconciliation? 

This week, humanitarians welcomed the Syrian Government’s decision to open two additional crossings on the border with Türkiye so that aid can be delivered into the northwest. 

The earthquake struck on 6 February and convoys initially were entering via Baba Al-Hawa, the only remaining border crossing authorized under a UN Security Council resolution adopted nine years ago. 

As of Wednesday, 117 trucks have now passed through the crossing and another, Bab al-Salam, with 30 making the journey that day alone. 

The move by Syria will have “a very positive impact” on aid operations, said Ms. Baker, who thanked nations that have temporarily lifted sanctions against Damascus as well as the Turkish Government for its collaboration. 

“I think that this is a very key note about how reconciliation can begin. Finally, we have a point where everyone converges on the need to help those who need our help. And it is unbiased, it is blind to anything except for the humanitarian assistance,” she said. 

Duty to personnel 

UNFPA plans to deliver more dignity kits and hospital equipment to the region and will strengthen personnel and coordination on the ground, “because there’s a sense of duty of care to our providers as well.” 

Even though agency staff also have been traumatized by the earthquake, they continue to work tirelessly each day, she reported.  Some have even been sleeping in their cars, moving from one location to the next once they have finished their tasks. 

Urgent response continues 

The UN this week launched a nearly $400 million appeal for Syria, and a similar appeal for Türkiye is being finalized. 

Efforts are being rapidly scaled up and more assessments are being planned in Syria to identify priority needs in different areas, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking in New York on Wednesday.

He added that the UN and humanitarian partners in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee have declared a systemwide scale-up for six months. 

“This helps to ensure that we are collectively and operationally deploying all possible means and resources to urgently respond in the earthquake-impacted areas,” said Mr. Dujarric. 

The amount is set to increase as the magnitude of the disaster becomes clearer, he said, speaking during a press conference from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Latest reports put the death toll at more than 33,000, according to international media, with millions more left homeless.

Ramping up operations

Tedros also reported that the Syrian authorities appear open to allowing more border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid into the northwest.

War-ravaged Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Government, opposition forces and armed groups.  

WHO is working across all areas affected by the earthquake, which struck on Monday.  

The UN agency is also scaling up operations across the country, including in the northwest, where the impact is even worse. 

More than 4,300 deaths and 7,600 injuries have been reported there, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA .

Prior to the earthquake, 4.1 million people were already depending on humanitarian aid, and needs were at an all-time high.

Recent developments welcomed 

Tedros stressed the need to take response “to the next level” to reach all populations who require support.

He welcomed the decision by the United States to ease sanctions against Syria in the wake of the tragedy.

“We equally appreciate the recent blanket approval by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for the UN for cross-line convoys, as well as measures to increase cross-border access. We hope this continues,” he said.

The WHO chief reported that he had met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier on Sunday afternoon “who indicated he was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency.” 

Ready to move

Tedros said he is waiting to move across conflict lines to northwest Syria.

“We’re on stand-by actually,” he told journalists.  “We can move anytime now through the coastline to the northwest.  Based on the blanket permit, we have already permission from this side. We’re waiting now to hear from the other side. As soon as we get that we will cross to the northwest.”

After the earthquake struck, WHO immediately accessed its pre-positioned supplies in the northwest and Aleppo, thus making treatment of major injuries possible. Staff also began distributing supplies to health facilities.

Responding to needs

Tedros arrived in Syria on Saturday, where WHO and partners have so far distributed 110 tonnes of medical supplies to affected areas across the country. 

A flight is scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Sunday night with vital specialized emergency health supplies for frontline workers.  

The UN agency also is supporting surge capacity of frontline specialized medical teams.

Cascading crises

The earthquake is the latest crisis to hit Syria, following the ongoing conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, cholera outbreaks, and economic decline.

Twelve years of war have “pulverized” the healthcare system, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO Emergencies Director.   Prior to the earthquake, just 50 per cent of health facilities were functioning, but the true impact is much greater.

“Not only physical damage to the infrastructure itself but the exodus of health workers, the loss of salaries, loss of training,” he said.  “It’s just that death by a thousand cuts to the system.”

‘An unfolding tragedy’

The WHO chief expressed deep respect and admiration for the survivors, first responders and health workers, though pointing to the immense needs they face.

National and international organizations, but also neighbours, mosques, churches and community groups, have been racing to deliver everything from food, clean water and medical care, to a safe space for people to sleep.

Tedros was in Aleppo on Saturday and visited a WHO-supported mobile health clinic distributing medicines to people with conditions such as headaches, anxiety and difficulty sleeping

“WHO and other organizations have trained community workers to offer rapid mental health support, but much more is needed,” he said.

While in the city, Tedros met a young girl called Nour, who lost her parents and suffered a broken arm when their six-storey apartment building collapsed, noting that she “is just one example of an unfolding tragedy that is affecting millions”.

Cross-border aid 

The UN’s top humanitarian official continues his mission in the region, OCHA reported on Sunday.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths travelled to the Turkish side of Baba Al-Hawa, the only remaining border crossing for UN aid delivery into northwest Syria authorized by the Security Council.

Mr. Griffiths also visited a UN hub in Hatay, where he witnessed the transshipment and monitoring of 10 trucks loaded with aid provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) prior to setting off to Syria. 

This was the fourth UN cross-border aid convoy since the earthquake struck northern Türkiye on Monday, affecting people on both sides of the border. 

The first convoy, with six trucks, crossed into Syria on Thursday following a three-day temporary disruption from damaged key roads. 

A second convoy of 14 IOM trucks crossed on Friday, followed by a third the next day comprised of 22 trucks containing medicines, cholera test kits, blankets, hygiene kits  solar lamps and other relief items.

OCHA said aftershocks are reportedly continuing in northwest Syria, forcing people to keep fleeing their homes. 

Civil defense teams concluded search and rescue operations on Saturday and have moved onto removing debris and recovering bodies, however efforts are being hampered by fuel shortages and a lack of machinery and vehicles.

‘Put politics aside’: UN Envoy

Meanwhile, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived in Damascus on Sunday on a pre-planned visit.

He affirmed that humanitarians will do all they can to access everyone who needs help, and underlined his efforts to rally support.

“We are reaching out of course to bilateral countries, we are mobilizing funding and we’re trying to tell everyone put politics aside. This is a time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people,” he said.

Mr. Pedersen also stressed the need for crossline and cross-border access.  “I’m in close touch with the UN humanitarian family, we’re working together to try to mobilize this support and that of course is my key message during this visit to Syria.”
 

Mr. Griffiths was speaking in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, where recovery efforts are ongoing in frigid temperatures.

He met with families left homeless by the disaster and listened to their stories of shock and devastation. 

“I am here to make sure that these people also are not forgotten,” he said.

Hope for survivors

The UN relief chief also spoke with search and rescue teams as they carried out their operations in the devastated central parts of the city, amid collapsed buildings with excavation equipment digging through the debris.

UN teams are already on the ground, and more than 130 countries have dispatched responders, sniffer dogs, experts and other personnel.

“There has never been an international response, a Turkish response, to a natural disaster, as we see here in these terrible days,” said Mr. Griffiths.

He praised the courage of people, including parents, who are working round the clock in efforts to rescue their families and children from the rubble – “hoping for one more sound, for one more person to survive.”

Humanitarian support

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people have died in the double earthquake, which struck southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria early on Monday morning. 

Millions more have been left homeless, including Syrians displaced by the 12-year war in their homeland and thousands of refugees who have fled across the border.

For Mr. Griffiths, the next phase will be to look after those affected by the tragedy.

“And I’ve met some of them already today,” he said, “people who’ve lost their homes, whose children don’t have schools to go to, who have no food, who have no money, who depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community.”

Mr. Griffiths is expected to visit the UN-authorised cross-border operation to Syria in the south of Türkiye on Sunday before travelling there.

The UN and partners will also launch appeals for the two countries.

In a video on his Twitter, Mr. Griffiths said “I hope what we will see is the same kind of generous, immediate and urgent international response to humanitarian needs that we have seen to those organizations helping the people of these cities to rescue the living from the dead.” 

Heartbreaking conditions

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday.

“I’m heartbroken to see the conditions survivors are facing – freezing weather and extremely limited access to shelter, food, water, heat and medical care,” he wrote in a post on his official Twitter account.

In a separate tweet, Tedros recounted how he met two babies, Nour and Omar, who lost their parents in the earthquake. 

“There are no words to express the pain they are going through. Grateful to colleagues and partners who are providing them with needed care, comfort and love,” he wrote.
 

“Aid, life-saving aid, is desperately needed by civilians wherever they are irrespective of borders and boundaries,” he told journalists in Geneva. “We need it urgently, through the fastest, most direct, and most effective routes. They need more of absolutely everything.”

According to UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, six trucks carrying “shelter items and non-food item kits, including blankets and hygiene kits” reached Bab al-Hawa on Thursday, the only UN Security Council border crossing authorized for aid delivery.

He urged the response not to be politicized, and for the focus to be on “those who we can still save”.

The Special Envoy’s appeal followed a warning from UN humanitarians on Wednesday that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country – assessed at a staggering 15.3 million before the earthquake disaster – will have to be revised upwards.

United on humanitarian needs

“We need to do everything to make sure that there are no impediments whatsoever to delay lifesaving support that is needed in Syria,” Mr. Pedersen continued, after chairing a meeting of the Humanitarian Taskforce for Syria which facilitates aid deliveries to the war-torn country. “I was struck by the unity in the meeting we had today by all the different Member States that participated,” he added.

Asked whether it was now time to lift some sanctions on Syria to ensure that aid can reach those in need, the Special Envoy replied that he had discussed this point “in particular with the representatives from the United States and from the European Union and they assured me that they will do whatever they can to make sure that there are no impediments to assistance coming to Syria to help in this operation”.

Window of survival

In areas affected by the double earthquake tragedy, rescuers have continued to pull more people alive from the rubble, but the chances of finding trapped survivors are diminishing fast.

The first 72 hours would always be crucial, humanitarians explained, after the initial 7.8 magnitude quake close struck to Gaziantep, Türkiye, early on Monday morning, followed by another 7.5 magnitude earthquake several hours later.

The combined, confirmed, death toll in Syria and Türkiye is now more than 17.000 people. With more victims expected, the UN Syria Envoy asked for “access and resources irrespective of borders and boundaries”.

He added: “The number of casualties continues to rise as we are speaking in both countries and there are still too many people who are under the rubble in the freezing cold. The earthquake struck as the humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria was already worsening, with needs at their highest level since the conflict began.”

War-torn tragedy

Almost 12 years into Syria’s devastating civil war, the country faces massive economic hardship and one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Prior to the earthquake, and based on assessments, the UN calculated that more than four million people in northwest Syria depended on cross-border aid alone.

Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Syrian government, opposition forces and other armed groups. Government and opposition areas have been hit particularly hard by the earthquake.

“We need support to go into the northwest, we need support to go into the government-controlled areas that have been particularly hit, Aleppo and Hama …and we know that some support is already coming in to the airports in Aleppo and also to Damascus,” Mr. Pedersen said.

In all affected parts of Syria, humanitarians have reported an urgent need for logistic, skilled rescue teams and temporary shelters. The UN is helping to mobilize emergency teams and relief operations, and many countries have already offered their support.