For the second day in a row, a UN delegation visited the northwestern regions of Syria, heading towards the Aleppo countryside through the Bab al-Salama crossing, and met with officials of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), a local official told Enab Baladi on Wednesday.

The UN delegation included the Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syrian Crisis, the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and directors and officials of UN agencies.

The Minister of Economy in the Interim Government, Abdul Hakim al-Masri, told Enab Baladi that the delegation was briefed on the reality of the region and its needs after the devastating earthquake, with the aim of bringing aid in various sectors, including medical and education, to the needy in the region.

The delegation promised that the United Nations would contribute to helping repair the infrastructure in the area that was damaged by the earthquake and will now focus on temporary shelter projects, pending early recovery projects and the return of life to normal, according to al-Masri. 

A UN delegation enters northern Syria through the Bab al-Salama border crossing – February 15, 2023 (Enab Baladi/Dayan Junpaz)

A look at al-Rai border crossing

The director of the al-Rai border crossing with Turkey, Nidhal al-Baz, told Enab Baladi that a UN delegation visited the crossing on Wednesday.

The delegation met with the Turkish and Syrian sides to discuss the process of dumping UN aid on the Syrian side as part of the arena has been allocated for humanitarian work provided by the United Nations.

Al-Baz added that during the next few days, the entry of aid will begin through the al-Rai crossing for a period of three months only.

On Tuesday, the eighth day of the earthquake, the same UN delegation visited the countryside of Idlib city through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing and met with a number of civil, medical, and media actors in the region.

The Department of Political Affairs affiliated to the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), which controls Idlib and parts of the countryside of Aleppo, said in a statement Tuesday evening that it had met with the international delegation with the participation of the Ministries of Health and Development and Humanitarian Affairs, and conveyed the suffering of the people affected by the earthquake.

On the fifth day of the earthquake, as part of a “late” response, UN and international convoys began arriving in northern Syria, carrying “limited” aid and food items that did not meet the needs.

A UN delegation enters northern Syria through the Bab al-Salama border crossing – February 15, 2023 (Enab Baladi/Dayan Junpaz)

Aid trucks keep entering

On Wednesday, a 22-truck convoy containing UN food baskets and caravan parts arrived in northern Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey.

Also, several trucks from Turkish and Syrian relief organizations entered through the same crossing, carrying relief materials, including flour, water, blankets, clothes, tents, medical supplies, and others, according to what the director of the media office at the Bab Al-Hawa crossing, Mazen Alloush, told Enab Baladi.

Qassem al-Qassem, director of the Bab al-Salama crossing, told Enab Baladi that the aid that entered on Wednesday was limited to that of Turkish organizations and some Syrian organizations operating in the north.

Today, a third aid convoy consisting of ten relief trucks is supposed to arrive in the countryside of Aleppo, provided by Iraqi Kurdistan. On Tuesday, five ambulances and a medical staff arrived from the Barzani Association, according to al-Qassem.

On the other hand, no aid arrived through the al-Rai crossing today, Wednesday, until the time this report was published, according to what the director of the crossing, Nidhal al-Baz, told Enab Baladi.

A UN aid convoy enters into northwestern Syria – February 15, 2023 (Bab al-Hawa crossing)

Death toll nears 40,000

Turkey’s death toll has reached 35,418. Deaths in Syria, split between rebel-held areas and government-held areas, have risen beyond 3,688, although those reported by the government have not been updated in days.

The toll in the northwestern opposition-held region has reached 2,274, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while 1,414 people have died in regime-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus. The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,688.