Sanctions prevent Syria from getting aid to eliminate quake consequences

Even before the devastating earthquake on February 6, getting aid to all parts of war-battered Syria was fraught with daunting political and logistical challenges.

Those hurdles have only multiplied in the wake of the disaster that has killed thousands in Turkey and Syria and brought down thousands of buildings, AP reports.

Damage to roads and other infrastructure in southern Türkiye has stalled aid from reaching northern Syria, an area already devastated by 12 years of conflict.

Meanwhile, the government of Bashar Assad in Damascus is still a pariah in much of the international community, sanctioned by the US and European countries, which are reluctant to route aid directly through the government. American and EU officials have made clear the quake won’t change that.

Emergency workers say delays could cost lives, as local rescue crews struggle to pull families and children from the rubble and find housing for survivors amid brutal winter weather.

A key issue complicating the dispersal of aid is “the war and the way the aid response is split between rebel areas and Damascus,” said Aron Lund, a fellow with New York-based think tank Century International who researches Syria.

While the majority of Syria is under the control of the government in Damascus, most of the north is controlled by different — and sometimes conflicting — groups. The northwest is divided between land de facto controlled by Turkey and by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group with ties to al-Qaida. Syria’s northeast is mostly held by US-backed Kurdish-led groups.