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.
"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:...