First UN Aid Convoy Enters Northwest Syria From Turkey 72 Hours After Deadly Quake Hit

The first United Nations aid convoy since a magnitude 7.8-earthquake struck on Monday, February 6, crossed into northwest Syria from Turkey on February 9, news outlets reported.

Six trucks crossed at the only border crossing authorized by the UN Security Council for aid delivery, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, according to Reuters.

Footage filmed by the Shaam News Network, a Syrian opposition media outlet, shows several trucks carrying “food and relief aid” at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. A spokesman at the crossing told the network, “These trucks will be distributed to organizations working with the UN to provide relief to vulnerable people in opposition-held areas. We hope these trucks will be followed with bigger convoys in the coming days.”

The White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defence, an emergency service operating in areas outside of government control, said rescue operations were becoming increasingly difficult, with “hundreds of families” still buried underneath rubble, and a “great shortage of search and rescue equipment.”

Syria’s death toll rose to 3,556 on February 9, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The combined death toll from Monday’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria reached more than 19,300 on Thursday. Credit: Shaam News Network via Storyful