A Hatay resident walks among the rubble of a collapsed building early February 10, 2023, after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake. (Credit: Yasin Akgul/AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met with US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea Friday to discuss the “opening of Beirut International Airport and all Lebanese ports to receive the [humanitarian] aid destined to Syria” after Monday's deadly quake, the Ministry tweeted, without specifying what countries would provide this aid.
A Ministry of Public Works spokesperson told L'Orient Today that “Lebanon has opened its airport and all its ports for organizations, companies, and countries that want to send humanitarian aid to Syria through Lebanon,” without specifying whether any aid has already passed through Lebanon.
“Some have reservations about landing in Syria directly, so we made it possible for them to send their aid through Lebanon,” the spokesperson explained.
The US Treasury Department also announced in a statement Friday that, until August 8, 2023, it will authorize “all transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Syria that would otherwise be prohibited [with some exceptions] by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations.”
In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump signed into law the Caesar Act, under which Congress authorized economic sanctions against Syria. In accordance with sanctions, anyone doing business with the Syrian authorities is potentially exposed to travel restrictions and financial sanctions.
Damascus often blames its financial woes on Western sanctions imposed during the 2011 conflict. After more than a decade of conflict and years of economic sanctions, Syria's economy has been devastated, along with its ability to respond to large-scale disasters.
Bou Habib and Shea also discussed Lebanon's “sending [of] a number of vehicles to contribute to the removal of rubble and sending two missions to help rescue those affected by the earthquake,” the tweet said.
Shea stressed “the importance of delivering humanitarian assistance to the affected areas and people.”
A Lebanese ministerial delegation visited Syria Wednesday to express solidarity with the Syrian regime after the deadly earthquake that killed more than 22,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
The US announced Thursday an initial $85 million aid package to help Turkey and Syria recover from the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake.