A Syrian man sits amidst the rubble as he waits for news about family members stuck under the wreckage in the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey, on Feb. 8, 2023, two days after a deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. (Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)
A leading United Nations official on Wednesday called on quake-hit Syria's government to facilitate aid access to rebel-held areas in the northwest, warning that relief stocks will soon be depleted.
"Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work," the UN's resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih said in an interview with AFP, warning: "We can't afford to wait and negotiate. By the time we negotiate, it's done, it's finished."
Much of the area of Syria impacted by Monday's deadly earthquake includes opposition-held parts of northwestern Aleppo and Idlib governorates, which are not serviced by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC).
There, a first response group known as the White Helmets has been leading search and rescue operations alongside other NGOs.
A leading United Nations official on Wednesday called on quake-hit Syria's government to facilitate aid access to rebel-held areas in the northwest, warning that relief stocks will soon be depleted.
"Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work," the UN's resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih said in an interview with AFP, warning: "We can't afford to wait and negotiate. By the time we negotiate, it's done, it's finished."
Much of the area of Syria impacted by Monday's deadly earthquake includes opposition-held parts of northwestern Aleppo and Idlib governorates, which are not serviced by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC).
There, a first response group known as the White Helmets has been leading search and rescue operations alongside other NGOs.
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