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The Syrian White Helmets criticize the United Nations for not responding to the earthquake
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The Syrian White Helmets criticize the United Nations for not responding to the earthquake

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Syria’s civil defense units have criticized the United Nations for failing to respond appropriately to the humanitarian crisis in opposition-held areas of the country, which have been devastated by two major earthquakes.

Raed al-Saleh, who leads the White Helmets, said the area had not received any aid from the United Nations since Monday’s earthquake aimed at disaster response, saying the six trucks that crossed the border into Syria on Thursday were regular shipments that had been delayed.

“The trucks that entered yesterday in a convoy were scheduled to enter on Monday, but they were delayed because of the earthquake,” he told reporters via video link from Idlib. “So far, no aid has arrived in northwestern Syria from the United Nations in response to the earthquake,” he added.

Al-Saleh described the UN response as “catastrophic” and said the body should “apologize to the Syrian people for the lack of assistance it is providing”.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Al-Saleh’s allegations.

The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, said 14 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed into Syria after leaving the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep earlier on Friday. According to the International Organization for Migration, trucks bound for opposition-held Idlib carried items including electric heaters, tents and blankets.

When asked if the 14 trucks that crossed into Syria were part of a regular aid shipment and not related to the earthquake response, IOM spokesman Paul Dillon said the “prepositioning” of the aid was not the issue.

“The issue is that much-needed and appropriate humanitarian aid for the displaced, including tents, blankets and other items, is being delivered to northwest Syria at this time,” he explained.

The White Helmets, officially known as the Syrian Civil Defence, are credited with saving thousands of people in opposition-held areas that have been bombed by regime and Russian forces in the 12-year-old Syrian civil war.

The White Helmets say they are neutral. Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad and his backers, including Russia, describe them as tools of Western propaganda and rebels.

The world has forgotten about Syria: an official in the World Health Organization

Meanwhile, a senior official at the World Health Organization lamented the “forgotten crisis” in Syria on Friday, as aid began flowing into rebel-held areas, days after a devastating earthquake struck.

As the World Health Organization prepares to transport medical supplies to Syria from Dubai, Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said there is a huge backlog of aid waiting to arrive in opposition-held northwest Syria.

The only aid corridor that bypasses regime-held areas and serves the war-torn region, which is home to 4 million people, has been temporarily cut off by Monday’s massive earthquake.

The first convoy of emergency supplies finally passed through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey on Thursday. More than 22,000 people died in the disaster in both countries.

“The world has forgotten about Syria,” Ryan told reporters in Dubai during preparations for the aid trip.

“Frankly, the earthquakes brought attention back. But these millions of people in Syria have now been struggling for years. This has become a forgotten crisis.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council on Thursday to allow the opening of additional crossings on the Turkish-Syrian border for UN aid to reach opposition areas.

This week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a “race against time” to save lives in the quake zone as aftershocks continue and winter conditions freeze.

Even before the earthquake, a decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had destroyed hospitals and led to electricity, fuel and water shortages in the opposition-held northwest.

“There is a large backlog of supplies ready to go,” Ryan said. “Many agencies, including ours, have pre-stocked because it’s winter, it’s already very exposed.

“There is a huge problem with millions of people.”

The chances of finding survivors before first aid arrived, after the three-day period that experts consider necessary to save lives had expired, had diminished.

Ryan warned that Syria was now facing a “secondary catastrophe” of loss of life due to a lack of medical supplies.

“We have to realize that the scale of this disaster is very large, it is beyond everyone’s ability,” he said.

“If they don’t have equipment, they can’t do their job—it’s like asking a firefighter to rush into a fire without a fire hose.”

Officials and medics said 19,875 people died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria in Monday’s earthquake, bringing the confirmed total to 22,368. Experts fear the number will continue to rise.

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