Somali National News Agency
So
Ar
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
    Local NewsShow More
    Somalia’s Disaster Management Agency and NGOs to Unify Humanitarian Aid Efforts
    August 29, 2025
    Somali Ambassador Emphasizes Importance of National Voice at UN
    August 29, 2025
    Somali Government Re-evaluates Development Projects in Nairobi Meeting
    August 29, 2025
    Minister of Ports and Maritime Transport Oversees Leadership Transition at Mogadishu Port
    August 29, 2025
    African Union Commission Welcomes Somalia’s Revised Electoral Framework Agreement
    August 29, 2025
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Hamas accepts an Arab ceasefire proposal on Gaza as Palestinian death toll passes 62,000
    August 19, 2025
    “Gunman Kills 3 in Texas; Explosion in Pennsylvania Leaves 2 Dead”
    August 12, 2025
    Somali-American Candidate Abdirizak Mohamed Ali Runs for Mayor of Hopkins, Minnesota
    August 8, 2025
    Israel kills aid worker in Gaza amid rising starvation deaths, US envoy meets with hostages’ families
    August 3, 2025
    Ghana Donates 40 Metric Tonnes of Cocoa to Palestine in Act of Solidarity
    August 2, 2025
  • Articles
    ArticlesShow More
    Somalia’s Political Leaders Forge a Path to Democracy
    August 25, 2025
    Ode to Yan’an: How a Song Inspired Chinese Youth During Wartime
    August 19, 2025
    Somalia’s Story Is More Than the Siege Narrative. It’s Time the World Reported It That Way
    August 13, 2025
    Somali and Allied Forces Deal Major Blow to Al-Shabaab in Coordinated Offensive
    August 6, 2025
    Somalia’s Financial War Against Al-Shabaab: Key Achievements and Strategic Milestones (2022–2025)
    August 4, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Somalia Unveils the Blueprint for a Modern and Sustainable Mogadishu
    December 21, 2024
    Djibouti Launches $57.4 Million Youth Entrepreneurship Project to Combat Climate Change
    November 25, 2024
    FM meets Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia
    October 28, 2024
    President Hassan Sheikh Inaugurates New LPG Storage Center in Mogadishu
    May 12, 2024
    Collaboration of ICT transformation for digital Infrastructure
    October 24, 2023
  • Sports
    SportsShow More
    Mogadishu Stadium to Host Star-Studded Match Featuring Somali Legends and International Football Icons
    May 27, 2025
    Arsenal held at Brighton while Man City bounce-back continues
    January 5, 2025
    Galmudug wins the Inter-State Football Tournament
    January 29, 2024
    Somalia set for two int’l friendlies ahead of WC qualifier clashes against Algeria and Uganda
    October 10, 2023
    Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver
    October 3, 2023
  • Tenders
    TendersShow More
Reading: Syria earthquake aid held up as millions suffer in freezing conditions
Share
Font ResizerAa
Somali National News AgencySomali National News Agency
  • SOMALI
  • ARABIC
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
Follow US
©2023 || All rights reserved SONNA
Somali National News Agency > Blog > World News > Syria earthquake aid held up as millions suffer in freezing conditions
World News

Syria earthquake aid held up as millions suffer in freezing conditions

By Abdullahi Hussein
Last updated: February 13, 2023
5 Min Read
Share
White Helmet rescue workers distribute aid in a makeshift camp in the rebel-held north-western province of Idlib, Syria, after last week’s earthquake. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

One week on from deadly earthquakes vital aid is being held up by disputes between government and rebel groups, as well as wider diplomatic quarrels

White Helmet rescue workers distribute aid in a makeshift camp in the rebel-held north-western province of Idlib, Syria, after last week’s earthquake. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

The US has called on all parties on the ground in Syria to immediately grant humanitarian assistance to those in need, after last week’s earthquake and major aftershocks that have killed at least 33,000 people.

“All humanitarian assistance must be permitted to move through all border crossings,” a spokesperson for the White House national security council said on Sunday.

The UN has said at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkey and Syria, and in Syria alone up to 5.3 million people are reportedly homeless. Turkey has said 80,000 people are in hospital and more than 1 million are in temporary shelters.

Tens of thousands of rescue workers continue to scour flattened neighbourhoods despite subzero winter weather. A dwindling number of survivors are still being extracted from the rubble more than a week after the quake hit.

Of the 3,500 deaths reported in Syria the bulk have been in the north-west of the country, in areas predominantly under rebel control.

The region has so far received little assistance as frontlines with the government are sealed off and only a single border crossing links it to Turkey to the north. The Syrian government last week said it was willing to send aid to the northern zone.

Washington called on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to grant immediate access to humanitarian assistance, without exception.

A UN spokesperson said on Sunday that earthquake aid from government-held parts of Syria into opposition-controlled territory has also been held up by “approval issues” with a hardline group that controls much of the territory.

The north-western region largely held by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was among the worst hit by the earthquake. The UN and United States classify HTS as a terrorist organisation.

An HTS source who was not authorised to talk to the media told Reuters the group would not allow shipments from government-held parts of Syria. “We won’t allow the regime to take advantage of the situation to show they are helping,” the source said.

The head of the World Health Organization met Assad in Damascus on Sunday and said the Syrian leader had voiced readiness for more border crossings to help bring aid into the rebel-held northwest.

“He was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

Tedros said the WHO was still waiting for a green light from rebel-held areas before going in.

The US is also pushing for the UN security council to hold a vote to open up more border crossings between Turkey and rebel-held north-west Syria for aid to travel through.

The US is also pushing for the UN security council to hold a vote to open up more border crossings between Turkey and rebel-held north-west Syria for aid to travel through.

‘What shall we do?’ Millions displaced in Turkey and Syria after earthquake
Read more

Since 2014 the UN has been able to deliver aid through Turkey to the millions of people in need in north-west Syria under a security council mandate. But it is currently restricted to using just one border crossing.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, who is in Turkey and is due to visit Syria, told Sky News on Saturday that he would ask the security council to authorise aid access through two more border crossings, arguing there is “a very clear humanitarian case”.

Griffiths – who is set to brief the security council on Monday – said the people of north-east Syria had been failed and “rightly feel abandoned”.

Diplomats said no draft resolution had yet been circulated to the security council to authorise more crossings.

Any resolution could be scuppered through a veto by permanent members Russia, China, the US, Britain or France. Syrian ally Russia has said that the existing council mandate for a single border crossing was sufficient.

The Syrian government views aid deliveries across its border without its approval as a violation of sovereignty.

The Guardian, Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Copy Link Print

MORE NEWS

Ode to Yan’an: How a Song Inspired Chinese Youth During Wartime

ArticlesCulture
August 19, 2025

Kenya’s small farmers find respite in avocados amid changing climate

NAIROBI(SONNA) As crop diseases and pests rise in Kenya amid a rapidly changing climate that…

March 11, 2023

Somalia’s Disaster Management Agency and NGOs to Unify Humanitarian Aid Efforts

Mogadishu, Somalia – A meeting between the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) and the Somalia…

August 29, 2025

Nimcaan Hilaac appointed to lead Waberi National Band

Mogadishu (SONNA)-Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed…

March 3, 2020

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Uganda bus blast a ‘suicide bomb attack’: police

Ugandan police said a blast on a long-distance bus Monday evening that injured several people was a suicide bombing carried…

World News
October 26, 2021

German officials seize cooked bats near Belgian border

BERLIN (SONNA) — German officials seized cooked bats and nearly a ton of unrefrigerated fish after police stopped a van…

World News
April 13, 2023

Boy, 6, killed in anti-Muslim attack in US

A man has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly stabbing two people because they were Muslim. Joseph…

World News
October 16, 2023

Africa needs at least 20 million Covid vaccine doses in the next six weeks, WHO says

(SONNA)Africa needs at least 20 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine within the next six weeks to get the second…

NewsWorld News
May 30, 2021

Somali National News Agency established in 1964. It is one of the main pillars of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.

  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
  • SNTV
  • RADIO MOGADISHU
  • DALKA JOURNAL
  • TOURISM DEPARTMENT

Follow US: 

  • MoICT
  • VILLA SOMALIA
  • OPM SOMALIA

All rights reserved SONNA

©2023

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?