Isolation, jihadism, rivalries... Why is it so difficult to help the Syrian victims of the earthquake?

Romain Rouillard 4:16 p.m., February 11, 2023

Nearly a week after the powerful earthquake that devastated southeastern Turkey and part of northern Syria, the same images of despair keep coming.

Collapsed buildings, bodies buried under the rubble and residents now homeless.

This Saturday, the human toll reported more than 25,000 dead and should continue to increase in the coming hours.

If Turkey was able to benefit from international assistance fairly quickly - 45 countries have offered their help according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - the Syrian neighbor appears to be the great forgotten of this wave of support and can only count on its main ally : Moscow. 

Syria, an isolated territory

It must be said that the country has been immersed in a civil war for 11 years between the central power led with an iron fist by Bashar Al-Assad and various armed rebellions.

A conflict which has gradually isolated Damascus and its authoritarian ruler and which today makes it more difficult to send rescuers to the region.

The earthquake notably hit the rebel area of ​​Idlib, access to which is severely controlled by the regime, and damaged the only crossing point from the Turkish border.

But more generally, the aid given to Syria after this natural disaster is looking like a headache for Westerners whose diplomatic relations with Damascus are now reduced to a bare minimum. 

>>

- Despite recurring tensions, Greece is mobilizing to help Turkey after the earthquake

With regard to France, they have even been at a standstill since 2012. "This considerably complicates the sending of rescuers", argues Fabrice Balanche, teacher at the University of Tours lecturer in geography at the University Lyon- 2 and specialist in the Middle East.

"In addition, for Paris, it is difficult to send aid on the spot because we cannot be sure of the good distribution of it. However, this aid must go to everyone, including in the rebel areas and it is not sure that Damascus will accept it", he continues. 

The risk of Turkish blockage 

The Syrian region affected by the earthquake is indeed divided into four areas controlled by different entities.

Providing logistical support in one of these areas would then amount to depriving another and could cause major diplomatic upheavals.

"For example, sending relief to Aleppo, a city controlled by the regime, would be to recognize that there is more security in the government zone", illustrates Fabrice Balanche.

“As for the rebel territory of Idlib, it is in the hands of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, a former branch of Al-Qaeda. It is an Islamic emirate in which there are notably French jihadists”, assures the specialist.

The equation therefore seems quite insoluble for Westerners, logically reluctant to 

>>

- Syria: a child emerged alive from the rubble five days after the earthquake

Finally, Turkey's attitude constitutes a non-negligible blocking point in the delivery of food to Syria.

"The Turks want us to help them as a priority. Erdogan is playing part of his re-election on this. And it is impossible to take the direction of Syria by road from Turkey without Ankara's agreement", emphasizes Fabrice Balanche.

Not to mention the visceral hatred that the Turkish regime has for the Kurdish populations, who still live in the region, and who therefore cannot expect anything from Ankara. 

This Saturday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) brought a small glimmer of hope to the victims of the earthquake on the Syrian side.

From Aleppo, he announced the arrival of "nearly 37 tons of emergency medical supplies".

It will certainly take more to bail out a population already scarred by the civil war.