More than a week after the earthquake struck, no help from areas controlled by the Syrian government has arrived to help victims in the devastated opposition-ruled enclaves in the north-west of the war-torn country, activists said.
Local humanitarian groups in the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria have described the lack of effort – especially the international one delivered to their quake-devastated region – as "shameful."
"The people of Syria are simply abandoned by all sides," said Abdel Kafi, an activist from the countryside of Aleppo in northern Syria.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said nothing is coming from the Damascus government into the opposition-held areas.
"The aid coming into northwestern Syria is very little. It does not meet the needs of the desperate people," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
Abdul-Rahman rejected what he called the "idea of politicizing a humanitarian issue and playing with people's lives."
He said these are people "who need every assistance across Syria following this natural disaster."
Activists said the Syrian Red Crescent tried to bring aid into the opposition areas, but the cargo was stopped by members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which control most of Idlib.
Following the civil war of more than 11 years, Syria is today fragmented into areas under the control of different sides, a situation making post-quake delivery of humanitarian aid more difficult.
The head of Syriaian aviation in the government-controlled areas, Bassem Mansour, said that aid planes have been landing at airports in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia.
At least 110 such planes from 20 countries carrying relief supplies have landed in areas under the government's control so far, he said.
Many countries refrain from direct cooperation with Syria's Bashar Assad regime over suspicions that he will misuse the aid supplies.
"We need full access from both sides," said Michael Ryan, the director of emergency programs at the World Health Organization (WHO), referring to supplies across Syria's international and domestic borders.
Assad on Monday agreed to open two more border crossings from Türkiye to reach the northwestern region in a move aimed at improving humanitarian aid flow into the disaster areas.
Bab al-Salam and al-Rai crossings were to remain open for three months.
Prior to that only the Bab al-Hawa crossing was authorized to get aid into northwestern Syria and that is not enough to meet needs in the quake-ruined areas, activists said.
