Turkish aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continue to assist those in urgent need in northwestern Syria. Most recently, the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) and Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) delivered humanitarian aid to families and children at risk of freezing in harsh winter conditions.

In his written statement, TDV General Manager Izani Turan said that they have been trying to help Syrian families in every way and have been providing them with food, shelter, education and health services since the first day of the war.

Stating that the grievances and needs in the region heightened with the cold weather, Turan noted that the population of Azaz, Idlib and Afrin has reached 6 million today from around 1.5 million before the war.

Stressing that more than 2 million people live in tents, Turan said: "The cold weather affects the families struggling to survive in the region much more. They are trying to hold on to life with the aid delivered from Turkey."

The TDV has launched a new aid campaign with the participation of its 1,003 branches. "So far, we have completed the planning of almost 5,000 stoves, 1,000 tons of coal, 5,000 coats, boots, food packages and carpets, as well as 8,000 blankets and 3,000 beds, and their distribution to families in Syria continues. The more donations we receive, the more we will be able to lend a helping hand to the oppressed," Turan said.

Selim Tosun, IHH Syria Studies media officer, also said that they did not abandon the families who were suffering in the frigid weather.

"From the first moment of snowfall, there has been a mobilization of kindness throughout Turkey for families in need and victims of war in Syria. As IHH, we are running our current winter campaign with the slogan 'Leave Winter Alone at the Door,'" he explained, noting that the generosity of the donors gives the families in Syria hope.

The latest storm has piled misery on war-ravaged Syria's northern refugee camps, where most of the displaced live in tents, many of which are collapsing under the weight of snow. Other areas are enduring heavy rains or freezing temperatures.

Many of Syria's nearly 3 million displaced people face dire winter conditions with a bitter snowstorm hammering the region, the United Nations warned Monday, as it urged the international community to do more to protect them. It also stated that nearly 1,000 tents hosting displaced civilians collapsed due to snowfall in northwestern Syria.

"It’s a real disaster zone," said Mark Cutts, the U.N. deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis who is in charge of cross-border aid operations from Turkey to the northwest.

Idlib region, where the 2.8 million displaced live, is the last Syrian enclave to oppose the regime in Damascus. Humanitarian aid reaches them mainly through the Turkey-Syria border under special U.N. authorization free from Damascus interference, and which expires in July.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia in March 2020. However, the Syrian regime has consistently violated the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Since April 2018, attacks on Idlib, the last opposition stronghold, have dramatically intensified, causing new waves of refugees to flow toward the Turkish border and putting the country – which already hosts 3.7 million Syrian refugees – in a difficult position.

The lives of Syrian people dealing with many difficulties in rural Idlib's tent camps have become much harder due to the recent winter conditions. As the humanitarian catastrophe in the region has reached new heights, people try to survive by taking shelter under trees or shaky tents built on mud and puddles. Many Turkish NGOs and state agencies including the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) and IHH keep providing vital humanitarian aid and conducting humanitarian efforts in the region hosting nearly 4 million people.

Meanwhile, Turkey's acting U.N. representative Öncü Keçeli criticized the international community Thursday saying the crisis in Syria cannot be solved with humanitarian aid alone, underlining that "Humanitarian aid is like trying to treat cancer with a band-aid."

Speaking at the session where the U.N. Security Council discussed the humanitarian situation in Syria, Keçeli said that the U.N. has turned into a "post-intervention service" in the face of ongoing crises in many parts of the world.