Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first visit Friday to a region stricken by an earthquake that has killed thousands in his country, his office said.

The president and his wife, Asma, visited survivors at their bedsides at a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo, images published by Syrian official media showed.

Assad also visited areas of the city damaged by Monday's 7.8 magnitude quake, whose epicenter was across the border in Turkey, according to images released by the presidency.

More than 22,000 people have died across Turkey and Syria as a result of the quake, one of the worst disasters to hit the region in around a century.

Over 3,300 of them have been killed in Syria, according to health ministry figures and a rescue group.

Aleppo province has so far counted 415 deaths and 1,050 injured, according to the health ministry.

Earlier this week, Assad presided over a government meeting and received an official Lebanese delegation, but had yet to visit a quake-hit area.

Diplomatically isolated since civil war broke out in his country in 2011, the Syrian president has received calls and aid from Arab leaders since the earthquake, momentum analysts say he could leverage to bolster regional support.

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 Cresent (SARC). There, a first response group known as the White Helmets has been leading search and rescue operations alongside other NGOs.