UN Secretary-General António Guterres supported the decision of the Syrian authorities to open two additional checkpoints to bring humanitarian aid into the country to non-government-controlled areas affected by severe earthquakes. On Wednesday, February 15, the agency reported Sana.
It is noted that during a telephone call with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad, Guterres expressed his condolences to him in connection with the numerous victims and victims of the earthquakes. The UN Secretary General supported the decision to open two new checkpoints between Syria and Turkey for a period of three months. He assured that in response the UN would make every effort to deliver aid to all regions affected by the cataclysms.
Miqdad, in turn, thanked Guterres for his efforts to mobilize the international community to help Syria. The Minister stressed that the earthquake had much more severe consequences due to the fact that the Arab Republic had suffered greatly from years of confrontation with terrorist groups in Syria.
In this regard, Mikdad highly appreciated the role of the UN Secretary General in the current situation and called on Western countries to lift a number of restrictions on Syria, which he called illegal.
On February 13, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had ordered the opening of two additional delivery points for humanitarian aid to the republic from Turkey. Two new checkpoints Bab el-Salam and El-Rayi will link Turkey and northwestern Syria. So far, the period of work of points is limited to three months.
On the same day, the Permanent Representative of Syria to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, said that Damascus welcomes the delivery of humanitarian aid to the country by any means, both from within the republic and across the border.
At the same time, the deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria (CPVS), Major General Oleg Yegorov, said that the lack of security guarantees complicates the work of Russian humanitarian missions in some Syrian regions. Thanks to the participation of the Russian Federation, over the past days, 321 Syrians received medical assistance, and more than 60 tons of humanitarian goods were delivered: food kits and essentials.
Earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred on February 6 in the province of Kahramanmarash in southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria. According to the latest data, about 8.5 thousand people died in Syria.
On February 8, Syrian Minister of Local Self-Government and Environment Hussein Makhlouf expressed his gratitude to the states that provided assistance to Syria, including Russia. At the same time, Damascus pointed out that US sanctions interfere with the provision of humanitarian assistance to Syria, and called for their immediate removal. The UN also indicated that no sanctions should interfere with humanitarian activities.
