"The slow humanitarian response to the earthquakes that severely affected opposition-held northwest Syria highlights the inadequacy of the United Nations Security Council-mandated cross border aid mechanism in Syria and the urgent need for alternatives," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
Adam Coogle, HRW deputy Middle East director, said that the Syrian government's obstruction of aid and its insistence on the assistance delivery only via government-controlled areas as well as the failure of the Security Council-authorized cross border mechanism to meet the urgent needs of northwest Syria "show that alternative aid systems are necessary."
"The Syrian government's authorization of two more border crossings into northwest Syria for just three months is too little, too late," Coogle said.
On February 8, Mohammed Chebli, spokesperson for the Syria Civil Defense, which operates in parts of opposition-controlled Syria and in Turkiye, said that its 1,600 volunteers had been forced to conduct search-and-rescue operations alone, calling the situation "desperate" because civilians and volunteers had to dig "with their own bare hands" to provide assistance to the wounded and find the victims, according to the HRW report.
Parts of Turkiye and Syria were hit by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks on February 6. The death toll from the devastating earthquakes in Turkiye exceeded 35,000. In Syria, the World Health Organization has estimated the number of casualties at 8,500, while the Syrian Health Ministry said the death toll in the government-controlled areas topped 1,410 people.
Russia has taken part in rescue operations in the two countries, with the Russian emergency response teams rescuing nine people and providing assistance to over 800 victims of the earthquakes in both Turkiye and Syria, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry.