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☆ WFP boss criticises northwestern Syrian authorities for slowing quake aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Emirates Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent distribute boxes of humanitarian aid in response to a deadly earthquake in Jableh, Syria, February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Amr AlfikyMUNICH, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The head of the World Food Programme (WFP) on Saturday pressured authorities in northwestern Syria to stop blocking access to the area as it seeks to help hundreds of thousands of people ravaged by earthquakes. "The problems we are running into is the cross-line operations into northwest Syria where the northwestern Syrian authorities are not giving us the access we need," Beasley told Reuters. Our operation is about $50 million a month for our earthquake response alone so unless Europe wants a new wave of refugees, we need get the support we need," Beasley said. I will call them out and will not be silent about this," Beasley said, referring to the authorities in northwestern Syria.

☆ Earthquake death toll passes 46,000 amid desperation for signs of life
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The mother and father survived but the child died later of dehydration, the rescue team said. When we find people who are alive we are always happy," Atay Osmanov, a member of the rescue team, told Reuters. As rescue efforts continued one worker yelled into the rubble: "Take a deep breath if you can hear my voice." The death toll in Turkey stands at 40,642 from the quake while neighboring Syria has reported more than 5,800 deaths, a toll that has not changed for days. In Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, the bulk of fatalities have been in the northwest.

☆ Northwest Syria of 'greatest concern' after quake -WHO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, told a briefing in Geneva. We have to remember here that in Syria, we've had ten years of war. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks with a man as he visits quake survivors at a hospital in Aleppo, in the aftermath of the earthquake, Syria February 11, 2023. We've seen the deployment of emergency medical teams. We've seen all the things that we need to see in a disaster.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has climbed to more than 41,000, and millions are in need of humanitarian aid, with many survivors having been left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. It asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to open more border crossing points with Turkey to allow aid to get through. "I shouted, shouted and shouted. Civil war hostilities have obstructed at least two attempts to send aid to the northwest from elsewhere in Syria, but an aid convoy reached the area overnight. "The children and I, by some miracle, we ended up in this small space that I had left empty."

☆ UN aid chief: quake rescue phase 'coming to a close'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ALEPPO, Syria, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The phase of the rescue after the major earthquake struck Turkey and Syria a week ago is "coming to a close" with urgency now switching to shelter, food, schooling and psychosocial care, the U.N. aid chief said during a visit to Syria on Monday. The Feb. 6 earthquake struck a swathe of northwest Syria, a region partitioned by the 11-year-long war, including insurgent-held territory at the Turkish border and government areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad. Griffiths said the United Nations would have aid moving from government-held regions to the rebel-held northwest, a front line across which aid has seldom passed during the conflict. The United Nations said more than 4,300 had been reported killed in the northwest, and more than 7,600 injured. Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Timour Azhari/Tom Perry, Writing by Clauda Tanios; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

8-year-old Ridvan Cakiroglu rescued by Israeli search and rescue team from rubble of collapsed building 116 hours after earthquakes, on February 10, 2023 in Turkey's Kahramanmaras. As the human death toll topped 28,000, the desperation mounted with each hour that passed for those who hoped to find their relatives alive in the rubble days after two earthquakes devastated Turkey and Syria. While local media reported more people had been pulled from the rubble Saturday, Martin Griffiths, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, warned that the death toll was likely to rise. The first of Monday's devastating quakes struck Turkey and neighboring Syria in the early hours and registered at magnitude- 7.8. More than 3,500 have died in Syria, where death tolls have not been updated since Friday.

☆ UN aid chief says earthquake is region's 'worst event in 100 years'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 11 (Reuters) - UN aid chief Martin Griffiths described on Saturday the devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the "worst event in 100 years in this region". Speaking during a news briefing in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, Griffiths also lauded Turkey's response to the disaster as "extraordinary". He also told Reuters he hoped in Syria aid would go to both government and opposition-held areas, but that things with this regard were "not clear yet". Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Writing by Hatem Maher Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Death toll rises to more than 21,000, rescues dwindle in earthquake aftermath
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Ahmet Izgi | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesEmergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey on Friday, pulling several people, some almost unscathed, from the rubble, four days after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 21,000. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria, an area home to more than 13.5 million people, early Monday morning. Mustafa Turan rushed to his hometown of Adiyaman from Istanbul hours after the quake struck to check on his relatives. Aerial footage from over the earthquake zone in Turkey revealed entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires. A woman sits next to the body of her nephew in Kahramanmaras, on February 9, 2023, three days after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey.

A map of Turkey showing the city of Kahramanmaras in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake. A set of before and after images that show how a block in the downtown Kahramanmaras area was turned to rubble by the earthquake. For days, rescue teams and family members have been working through rubble of collapsed buildings throughout the city. Residential buildings Before Residential buildings After Google Maps Street View from November 2022; Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images from Feb. 7, 2023On many blocks, only a few buildings remain. A set of before and after images that show another block of residential buildings destroyed, leaving the Clarion Hotel Kahramanmaras standing alone.

☆ Crews find survivors, many dead after Turkey, Syria earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Search and rescue operations continue in Sanliurfa, one of 10 provinces hard-hit by a 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude quakes in Turkey on Feb. 7, 2023. A few hours later, rescuers pulled 10-year-old Betul Edis from the rubble of her home in the city of Adiyaman. In Syria, the shaking toppled thousands of buildings and heaped more misery on a region wracked by the country's 12-year civil war and refugee crisis. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country's last opposition-held enclave, where millions rely on humanitarian aid. Earthquakes hit Turkey on Monday, flattening buildings and killing thousands.

☆ How companies are trying to help victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Olesya Dmitracova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Companies around the world are racing to provide help to the victims of the devastating earthquake straddling Turkey and Syria, by donating food, medicines, services and cash. Hamdi Ulukaya has donated $1 million to an earthquake relief fund set up by Turkish Philanthropy Funds, the US-based donor organization has said. please donate to @tphilanthropy earthquake relief and recovery efforts. The aid organization is working to help people in Turkey and Syria affected by the quake. Aid agencies are particularly worried about victims in northwestern Syria, where more than 4 million people were already relying on humanitarian assistance.

☆ Turkey stocks drop, lira hovers near record low as President Erdogan declares a 3-month state of emergency after devastating earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Turkish stocks and the lira fell Tuesday in the wake of a deadly 7.8 earthquake on Monday. Turkey's President Erdogan declared a state of emergency in areas hard hit by the natural disaster. Sharp losses in Turkish stocks prompted two trading halts. In US trade, the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF fell 6%, adding to its 2.4% decline on Monday. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces that were hit the hardest in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

☆ Death toll from Turkey, Syria quake set to jump, WHO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) expects a significant jump in the death toll following a major earthquake and its aftershocks in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria that reduced many buildings to rubble. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which rattled southern Turkey early on Monday, was the worst to hit the country this century, killing more than 900 people there and about 550 across the border in Syria, according to officials. "I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly," Rick Brennan, the WHO's regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told Reuters. "There's been a lot of building collapses and it will increase more significantly around the epicentre of the earthquake." "It's harder for the rescue teams to get in there to extract people," he said.

☆ U.N. extends aid to Syria from Turkey, avoids Russia fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Despite Western animosity toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, the council avoided a usual fight over approval of aid deliveries into Syria from Turkey. The current approval of the U.N. aid operation was due to expire on Tuesday. Russia, which has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that began in 2011, argues that the aid operation violates Syria's sovereignty. The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. Russia says more aid should be delivered from inside Syria, but opponents of Assad fear that food and other aid would fall under government control.

☆ Syrian rebels say anti-ISIS operations with the U.S. have stopped and ISIS fighters may escape from prisons and a refugee camp
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Courtney-Kube-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Courtney Kube | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

If security forces abandon the prisons and refugee camps, thousands of ISIS fighters could be released into Syria and threaten the region and the West, say U.S. military officials. Syrian Kurdish Asayish security forces inspect tents at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp on Aug. 28, during a security campaign by the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS "sleeper cells" in the camp. Three U.S. military officials say, however, that patrols with the SDF continued at a reduced rate and without aggressive counter-ISIS missions. So far, the Syrian rebels and the U.S. military say they have not seen signs of de-escalation from the Turks. But if Turkish military operations escalate, say U.S. officials, more SDF fighters will move toward the border, leaving detention facilities and refugee camps with inadequate security, say U.S. officials.

☆ A secretive US special-operations base in Syria is taking fire from a shadowy Middle East war
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Rachel Nostrant | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

US troops at the al-Tanf outpost in Syria have been conducting counter-ISIS operations since 2016. Israeli, Syrian, and Iranian forces are also active around the base in southeastern Syria. The base was established in 2016, when US forces were in the thick of combat operations against ISIS in Syria. Al-Tanf — in southeastern Syria along the M2 Baghdad-Damascus highway and near the borders with Iraq and Jordan — was the ideal location. DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty ImagesRussia's war in Ukraine may create new problems for US troops at al-Tanf.

☆ Turkish troops deploy in Syrian town to halt inter-rebel fighting
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AMMAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Turkish troops deployed on Tuesday in an area in northwestern Syria to try to halt fighting between rival rebel factions opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses and rebel forces said. HTS forces should be withdrawn from the area immediately," the U.S. Embassy in Damascus said. Turkey's large military presence, with thousands of troops stationed in a string of bases in northwest Syria, had held back Russian-backed Syrian forces from seizing the rebel-held area. A senior official in the coalition fighting HTS said they had reinforced positions around the city to repel any attempt by the jihadists to take it over. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Administration officials are particularly worried that the tens of thousands of children at al-Hol are especially vulnerable to being recruited by ISIS or forced to join. Members of the Syrian Kurdish Asayish security forces inspect tents at the al-Hol camp in August during a security campaign against ISIS sleeper cells. U.S. officials have said that there is no military solution to al-Hol and that instead they are trying to stop the growth of ISIS through diplomatic outreach. The camp’s size and makeup dramatically changed in March 2019, when the Syrian Democratic Forces defeated ISIS fighters at Baghouz, Syria. The battle there was seen as ISIS’ last stand, and ISIS’ defeat marked the fall of its self-proclaimed caliphate.

☆ Russia gets its first drones from Iran as the two countries strengthen ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-30 | by ( Dan De Luce | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Josh-Lederman-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Facing a protracted war in Ukraine and a wall of Western sanctions, Russia is turning to Iran to bolster its military and keep its economy afloat, as both countries’ interests converge. The delivery is part of Russia's plans to import “hundreds” of drones from Iran, they said. Despite Moscow’s alignment with Iran, Russia so far has maintained friendly relations with Tehran’s adversaries in the Middle East, including Israel, which has enjoyed a pragmatic relationship with Russia. Russia’s increasing cooperation with Iran could also complicate diplomacy outside the Ukraine conflict, including efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “Iran can try to help Russia evade sanctions without the JCPOA or with the JCPOA.

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