Help with earthquakes in northern Syria: why did it take so long? syria news now

Why did the earthquake in northern Syria take so long?

syria news now - The Syrian government, headed by oppressor Bashar Assad, insists all philanthropic aid should be conducted through Damascus. In practice, Assad used transnational aid deliveries both to enrich himself and his sympathizers by taking a cut and to insure that his adversaries in opposition-held areas were starved of supplies. “ Everyone was barefoot, ” he told DW. “ We ran for our lives, injured and carrying nothing. ”

                                                                   

Now, nearly two weeks after the earthquake, Hilal’s situation has still not better. Jinderes is one of the worst affected municipalities in this area and Hilal, who left his birthplace of Aleppo seven times agone because of the Syrian civil war, is now living with his family in a tone-made roof near what remains of their home.

He’s been trying to scavenge useful particulars from inside the ruined house, indeed though the structure is in peril of collapse.

So it's only this week that aid convoys carrying canopies, drugs, food, and other inventories began arriving in the area in any significant number

Locals like Hilal, who are floundering to survive in the downtime temperatures, say it’s too little and much too late. Over the once days, there have been numerous stories about saviors desperately clearing debris with their bare hands, only to hear buried survivors ’ voices ultimately fall silent.

Why has it taken so long?

There are just over 4 million people living in this area, substantially Syrians displaced from another corridor of the country during the country’s long civil war. The area is controlled by colorful groups that oppose the Syrian government.

Times of fighting, ad hoc governance, and direct attacks on the structure by Syria and its supporter, Russia, mean that medical installations and other exigency services were formerly under pressure or missing. The maturity of civilians living in this part of Syria was dependent on transnational philanthropic aid to survive indeed before this rearmost disaster.

And getting aid and inventories into this opposition-controlled area has long been political.

The Syrian government, headed by oppressor Bashar Assad, insists all philanthropic aid should be conducted through Damascus. In practice, Assad used transnational aid deliveries both to enrich himself and his sympathizers by taking a cut and to insure that his adversaries in opposition-held areas were starved of inventories

This is why, beforehand in the civil war, the UN and philanthropic associations claimed aid to be delivered across the Turkish border, directly into opposition-held areas, and without asking for authorization from the Assad governance. This is how the maturity of aid has arrived in opposition-held areas over one time.

In mid-2014, the United Nations Security Council, or UNSC, got involved in making opinions on aid for Syria.

Security Council members decided that UN philanthropic agencies and their mates should be allowed to use four different border crossings two through Turkey and one each through Jordan and Iraq — without asking for authorization.

still, since 2014, the situation has changed radically because of Russia’s increased military support for Assad from around 2015, and also after 2022, the Russian irruption of Ukraine, which has heightened political pressures inside the UNSC itself.

The idea of cross-border aid into northwestern Syria has come a political logrolling chip, with Russia using its endless seat on the UNSC to support the Assad governance and exact concessions from other UNSC members. From 2020 on, at Russian asseveration, the UNSC has allowed only one Turkish- Syrian border crossing to be used for aid deliveries.

So who was really to blame?

 That was the situation when two devastating earthquakes struck early on Feb7.

 While Assad’s supporters argue that international sanctions are to blame, Assad’s critics say that the Syrian government had deliberately waited so long for cynical, political reasons.

Opening the borders is “ a way for the governance to instrumentalize this tragedy for its own political purposes, ” Joseph Daher, an expert on Syria at the European University Institute in Italy, told the Washington Post.

“ We've seen, time and again, that the Syrian government is further than able and willing to manipulate exigency heads to expand its control, ” added Jesse Marks, elderly advocate for the Middle East at Deportees International, in a statement

SO WHO WAS REALLY TO Condemn?

On February 7, two devastating earthquakes struck.

By February 13, the Assad governance agreed that two farther Turkish border crossings could be opened for three months. While Assad’s sympathizers argue that transnational warrants are to condemn, Assad’s critics say that the Syrian government had designedly waited so long for pessimistic, political reasons. Blaming the United Nations

The Turkish government had supposedly agreed to open two further crossings as early as February 8 but the UN decided to stay for the Syrian government to agree to.

“ When I asked the UN why help had failed to arrive in time, the answer I entered was bureaucracy, ” Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian levy deliverance group. 

 
“ It’s a Catch-22 for the UN, ” Ibrahim Olabi, a counsel and author of the Syrian Legal Development Program, preliminarily told DW. However, and the UNSC accreditation, “ also they’re at threat of venturing their relationship with Damascus and they can’t work there presently If the UN ignores the delicate politics behind the border- crossing debate. ”

Other associations had analogous arguments to make. “ The slow philanthropic response to the earthquakes( in northern Syria) highlights the inadequacy of the UNSC- commanded cross-border aid medium in Syria and the critical need for druthers, ”

But it wasn’t just UN vacillation causing problems with aid shipments. Some aid convoys trying to cross from a government-run corridor of Syria into opposition-controlled areas were blocked by opposition fighters themselves.

Human Rights Watch reported that groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham turned exchanges down because they refuse to accept anything from a government that has bombed, starved, and shot at them traveling times. So did fighters from Turkish- backed regulars in other corridors of northern Syria.

The Syrian government is also alleged to be involved in such skimming.