Ajit Karn
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited earthquake-ravaged areas of rebel-held northwestern Syria. Tedros, the highest-ranking United Nations official to visit Syria’s rebel-held areas since the February 6 earthquake, had visited government-controlled areas of Aleppo and Damascus in the week preceding the disaster.
The correspondent reported that he entered Syria on Wednesday from neighbouring Turkey via the Bab al-Hawa crossing and visited several hospitals and a shelter for the displaced.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, activists and emergency teams in the rebel-held northwest criticised the United Nations’ slow response, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid delivered to airports under government control.
There have been a total of 258 planes carrying aid to regime-controlled areas, including 129 from the United Arab Emirates.
Martin Griffiths, the head of UN relief, admitted on February 12 that the organisation had “so far failed the people in northwest Syria.”
Since then, the United Nations has issued a $397 million appeal to aid Syrian earthquake victims.
Since the tragedy, the United Nations reports that 420 trucks carrying UN aid have entered the rebel-held pocket.
In the north and northwest of Syria, areas not under government control are home to over four million people, 90 percent of whom rely on humanitarian aid for survival.
The first UN aid convoy entered the area on February 9, three days after the earthquake, carrying tents and other relief supplies for 5,000 people who had been anticipated prior to the earthquake.
The UN primarily delivers aid to Syria’s northwest through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in neighbouring Turkey, which is the only way aid can enter Syria without Damascus’ permission.
The crossing is located in the Idlib region, which is rarely visited by UN officials and is under the control of the jihadist organisation Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The WHO director stated on February 12 that Assad had expressed a willingness to allow additional border crossings for the delivery of aid to earthquake victims in the rebel-controlled northwest.
13 February, the United Nations announced that Damascus had granted permission to use two additional crossings in areas beyond its control, Bab al-Salama and Al-Rai, for three months.
Wednesday, according to an AFP correspondent, a new aid convoy entered via Bab al-Salama.
The first United Nations delegation to visit rebel-held northwestern Syria following the earthquake left Turkey on February 14.
It consisted of David Carden, the deputy regional humanitarian coordinator, and Sanjana Quazi, the director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Turkey, and was primarily an assessment mission.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck war-torn Syria and Turkey resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 people in the two nations.
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The Syrian government reported 1,414 deaths in areas under its control, while Turkish-backed Syrian officials estimated 4,537 deaths in rebel-held areas.
