It was on Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad opened two new border crossings between Turkey and Syria for necessary assistance from UN aid organizations. In the past, only one crossing has been open, which limited supplies to the earthquake-stricken country.
Kenn Crossley, WFP’s director and representative in Syria, emphasizes that there has long been humanitarian aid in the country, but that the recent earthquake has increased the need – while the infrastructure has been hit hard. Another problem has been a lack of personnel at the border, according to him.
– So there are practical reasons, not political reasons, why some of the help did not arrive, he says.
Allegations of political gamesmanship
So far, more than 40,000 people have died after the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, with 5,800 of them found in Syria, according to Reuters.
According to SVT’s Turkey correspondent Tomas Thorén, the border crossings have been used as a pawn in a political game, as the regime in Damascus sat crosswise because of the ongoing civil war in Syria.
Hear Kenn Crossley talk about the aid work in Syria in the clip above.