Death Toll in Syria-Turkey Earthquake Passes 19,000: Latest Updates

“Sanctions do not ban the export of food, medicines or medical equipment to Syria,” said Balazs Ujvari, a spokesman for the European Commission, adding that the EU sanctions were designed with exemptions for humanitarian aid. “The EU aims to avoid and, where unavoidable, mitigate negative unintended effects of sanctions,” Mr Ujvari said. “The EU’s top priority is to save lives,” both in Syria and Turkey, he added.

The Turkish government asked for European help almost immediately after the earthquake, and on Monday afternoon the first EU crews landed in Turkey. The Syrian government’s request two days later focused on in-kind assistance.

The Syrian Red Crescent and Syrian officials have called for the lifting of Western sanctions they say are hampering aid shipments to Syria – a claim the EU has dismissed.

“It is post-earthquake time to lift sanctions,” Khaled Hboubati, the head of Syria’s Red Crescent, said at a news conference on Tuesday. “We want equipment. We need fire trucks. We don’t have any heavy equipment for evacuation,” he added.

Monday’s earthquake affected much of northwestern Syria, including areas controlled by the Syrian government and Turkey-backed opposition forces.

Mr al-Assad’s authoritarian government has been under sanctions for years for its violent response to anti-government protests and subsequent actions, including the use of chemical weapons, in the Syrian civil war. Much of the international aid to Syria from the United Nations and other organizations flows through the government-controlled capital Damascus.

But if aid is sent through Damascus, the Syrian government is able to limit what goes into opposition-held areas because UN agencies must obtain permission to send some aid across the front lines to opposition-held areas to deliver held territories. Many UN requests for authorization have been denied by the Syrian government over the years.

“Given the Assad regime’s record of oppression of the Syrian people, we would need sufficient safeguards to ensure that assistance provided under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism reaches those in need,” EU spokesman Ujvari said.

To circumvent these restrictions, the UN Security Council passed a resolution in 2014 allowing UN agencies to deliver aid to opposition-held areas across borders with neighboring countries like Turkey.

Assad’s government and Russia, its close ally, have in the past resisted efforts to send aid directly from Turkey to these areas, claiming that all aid should go through Damascus. Since the earthquake, they have reiterated that position.

The United Nations said it hoped to send aid convoys to north-western Syria on Thursday via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, which the United Nations had previously said was not working because of damage from the quake in the region.

“Our trucks are ready, we have trucks at the border, we have trucks being loaded. We’re just waiting for the logistics to be ready,” said Muhannad Hadi, the United Nations regional coordinator for Syria.

Ms Ujvari, the EU official, said the crossing is set to reopen, citing information from the UN

“Of course it would be helpful to keep as many border crossings open as possible so that aid can reach the affected people in Syria,” he said.

Most of the international aid to Syria comes through UN agencies, which say they sent $2.13 billion to Syria last year. Since the earthquake, some countries friendly to the Syrian government have sent aid to Damascus. For example, Iran sent a plane with 70 tons of food, tents and medicines on Monday night.

But of the billions in humanitarian aid sent to Syria last year, some of the largest donors have been countries that have imposed sanctions on Mr al-Assad’s government. Despite these sanctions, the United States gave $964 million; Germany gave $536 million; and the European Union as a body gave $119 million.

As Syrian officials called for help, they warned of resources falling into the hands of extremist groups, a long-standing government refrain.

This week, a Syrian MP urged people not to donate money to organizations working in opposition-controlled areas, arguing that the money could end up with terrorist groups — a claim that has raised alarms among aid workers.

Idlib province in north-west Syria is largely controlled by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that severed ties with the group years ago. But for over a decade, the government has generally referred to all opposition figures – armed or peaceful – as terrorists.

The opposition-controlled northwestern corner of Syria, which includes Idlib, is also home to around 4.2 million people, of whom 2.7 million are internally displaced from their homes in other parts of the country, many of whom live in tent camps.

Syrian aid workers have expressed concern over warnings from Syrian government officials.

“Rather than sending a message of unity that this is a crisis that affects all Syrians, they say, ‘Be careful these people don’t get any help because they are terrorists,'” said Monzer al-Salal, the executive director by Stabilization Support Unit, an aid group working in opposition-held areas.

“The call for the sanctions to be lifted is political,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the humanitarian situation.”

Farnaz Fassihi And Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.