The first convoy of aid to rebel areas in northwestern Syria since Monday’s deadly earthquake entered Thursday through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, according to the UN and an official at this crossing.
An AFP correspondent saw six trucks, including tents, entering Syrian territory.
“The first UN aid convoy entered today, four days after the earthquake,” Mazen Allouch, an official at the border post held on the Syrian side by the rebels, told AFP.
He said it was aid expected before the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey on Monday, killing more than 19,000 people, including more than 3,200 in Syria, according to a provisional report.
“It will be followed, God willing, as we have been promised, by larger convoys to help our stricken people,” he added.
For its part, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicated in a press release that this convoy, made up of six trucks carrying blankets, mattresses, tents, relief equipment and solar lamps should cover the needs of at least 5,000 people. .
But the organization of the White Helmets, rescue workers who operate in rebel areas, expressed its “disappointment”, believing that this aid was “routine” and not specific to the search for survivors under the rubble.
“The UN aid in question is routine. It had stopped with the earthquake and has just resumed, ”responded the NGO on Twitter. “It is certainly not about specific aid and equipment” for the rescue teams.
For its part, London announced Thursday additional financial aid of at least 3.4 million euros, making a total amount of nearly 4.3 million euros allocated to the White Helmets.
“The funding will be used to support reconstruction projects including building safety assessments, reopening roads and getting infrastructure back up and running,” the UK government said in a statement.
Almost all the humanitarian aid destined for the rebel areas is sent from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing point. Turkey has said it is working to open two more border crossings.
The UN said on Tuesday that traffic through the crossing was disrupted due to damaged roads, although the cargo transshipment platform and crossing point itself were intact.
The UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, had announced that part of the aid would enter Thursday through the Bab al-Hawa crossing point.
“We had assurances that we could get the first humanitarian aid through” through this crossing point, he said.
No aid has been sent from regime-controlled areas to rebel areas for about three weeks.
On Wednesday, a UN official warned that the UN stockpile in the northwest could barely feed 100,000 people for a week.
In areas controlled by the Syrian government, planes loaded with humanitarian aid have instead landed since Monday’s tragedy in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia, from, among others, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Iran.