Aid not reaching northwest Syria as border guards affected

UN aid is not reaching opposition-held territory in northwest Syria due to customs officials at the Turkish border being personally impacted by Monday’s earthquake, officials and humanitarian workers have told MEE.

More than 11,000 people have died after a 7.8-magnitude quake struck the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep on Monday morning. A second, 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey's Kahramanmaras province shortly after.

The death toll was at least 8,579 in Turkey and 2,530 in Syria, as of Wednesday.

Highways in southern Turkey were severely damaged by the quake, including ones leading to Bab al-Hawa, the only international aid corridor from Turkey into Syria.

The village of Besnaya in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, following an earthquake on 7 February 2023 (AFP)