Assad: Damascus determined to deliver aid to all quake-affected Syrians
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Damascus is determined to deliver humanitarian aid to millions of people who have been affected by the massive earthquake and a major aftershock that devastated northwestern Syria last week.
Assad made the remarks in a meeting with visiting President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mirjana Spoljaric Egger and her accompanying delegation in the Syrian capital city of Damascus on Tuesday evening.
He highlighted the need for the reconstruction of vital infrastructure and sectors, such as health and communications, when dealing with the current disaster in Syria, saying they directly affect the humanitarian and living conditions of ordinary people.
Egger, for her part, said the ICRC is seeking to provide Syrians with basic commodities and necessary services so that quake victims could surmount the difficulties.
She praised the search and rescue efforts being made by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), saying that her humanitarian organization is working to expand the scope of its disaster relief operations.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 has crossed 41,000. The Syrian government and the UN have reported more than 5,800 deaths in Syria, while Turkish authorities say 35,418 people have been killed in the country.
Turkey not to accept more refugees from Syria: Cavusoglu
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said Turkey will not accept more refugees from Syria after the earthquake, denying claims that Syrians were flooding into the country following the deadly calamity.
“Claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Turkey are not true. We will not allow that. It is out of the question,” Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with his Libyan counterpart Nejla al-Mangush in the capital Ankara on Monday.
He noted that Ankara has offered to the United Nations to open two more border gates into Syria through Turkey’s southern province of Kilis, but the gates would serve as one way into Syria for humanitarian aid.
UN chief welcomes Syria’s decision to open aid corridors
Also on Monday, the UN secretary-general welcomed the decision by the Syrian president to open two more crossing points on the Turkish border to allow more aid into the earthquake-stricken regions northwest of the country.
“I welcome the decision by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to open the two crossing points of Bab al-Salam and al-Ra’ee from Turkey to northwest Syria for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid,” Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
It’s clear that “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”, Guterres added.
“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,” he noted.
The UN recently said an anti-government group that has been designated as a terrorist group by the international community is preventing aid consignments from being delivered to the earthquake-stricken areas in northern Syria.
A spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian aid office said on Sunday that there were “issues with approval” by the group, which it identified as the terrorist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The group has been waging deadly violence against Syrian people and government forces alike since 2011, when the Arab country found itself in the grip of foreign-backed terrorism.
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