ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) on Friday arrived in the Kurdish city of Afrin, northwest Syria with truckloads of vital aid after a devastating earthquake killed thousands and left millions homeless in both Syria and Turkey.
With 12 trucks carrying 50 tons of food, medicine, and essential items, the BCF convoy crossed into rebel-held Afrin through the Bab al-Salameh border crossing from Turkey to deliver aid to Afrin city and nearby Jindires town where people were left homeless in a winter freeze and fading hopes of rescuing their loved ones from underneath countless buildings that were turned to rubble in Monday’s twin earthquakes. As of Saturday, the death toll stands at more than 24,200 people in both Turkey and Syria.
On BCF’s arrival in Afrin, people could be seen lining the streets, welcoming the aid and waving the Kurdish flag.
“Just like how somebody does all they can to treat their child who is wounded or faces a critical illness, Afrin is similar to that for us,” Musa Ahmed, head of the BCF, told Rudaw’s Horvan Rafaat in Afrin.
Ahmed added that the foundation will widen the scale of aid in the coming days by sending equipment and materials to help rescue possible survivors trapped underneath the rubble.
Afrin is a predominantly Kurdish area of northwestern Syria. It was largely unscathed by the country’s conflict until Turkey’s 2018 operation to oust Kurdish armed forces. The area is now under the control of Turkish-backed groups. The Bab al-Salameh crossing where BCF entered the country was shut to international aid in 2020.
The BCF convoy is one of the first deliveries of aid to rebel-held northwest Syria where groups like the first responders White Helmets have had to dig people out of the rubble with no assistance and limited equipment. On Friday, the White Helmets warned that aid arriving now would be too late to save lives and would be used to recover bodies and remove rubble.
“There are a large number of injuries since the catastrophe was so huge, destroying the city [of Afrin],” said Sayef Abubakir, general commander of the Syrian National Army (SNA)-affiliated al-Hamza Division. BCF “gave great support to this region by sending aid.”
“We are thanking the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for sending aid to Jindires and Afrin cities. Thank you again,” said Zaki Omar, a Kurdish resident of Afrin.
People of #Afrin welcoming #BCF aid convoy for #earthquake victims#Turkeyquake #Syria #syriaearthquake #هزة_أرضية #Turquia #earthquake #tuerkiye #deprem #زلزال_شرق_المتوسط #زلزال_ترکیا_وسوريا #Rojava pic.twitter.com/bJblURprPt
— Barzani Charity Foundation (@BarzaniCF) February 10, 2023
On Thursday, the first UN aid crossed the border into northwest Syria's Aleppo province. Six trucks from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) brought basic relief items, shelter materials, and solar lamps for 5,000 people.
The UN warned that at least 870,000 people were in urgent need of food in both countries after the quake, which in Syria alone killed over 3,500 people and left around 5.3 million homeless. The UN urged an immediate ceasefire in Syria to help facilitate the delivery of aid to all citizens affected by the quake, with its human rights office calling on all actors to allow the flow of humanitarian aid.
“The dispatching of such aid will undoubtedly have good influence. The aid arrived at the right time. We are truly thankful and we hope other organizations imitate what they [BCF] have done,” said Habush Letta, justice minister in the opposition’s Syrian Interim Government.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to earthquake-hit regions of the country’s northwest under rebel control, which were some of the country’s areas worst impacted by the tremor.
BCF was founded by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in 2005 and runs most of the IDP and refugee camps in the Region.
