After the devastating earthquake occurred, international humanitarian aid entered slowly and in small quantities to the affected areas in northwestern Syria, which made the United Nations in particular vulnerable to criticism from a population already exhausted by the years of war.
More than 4 million people live in areas outside the control of the Syrian regime (northwest), about half of whom are displaced, and 90% of them depend on humanitarian aid.
How does this aid enter those areas that were devastated by the earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 46,000 people in Turkey and Syria?
How does the United Nations aid enter?
United Nations aid enters these areas through only two ways, namely the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, according to a resolution issued by the UN Security Council (2672), and from the areas controlled by the Syrian regime.
In 2014, while the Syrian conflict was at its height, the UN Security Council allowed UN aid to cross into Syria without obtaining permission from the government through 4 border points, which are the Bab al-Hawa (north of Idlib) and Bab al-Salama (north of Aleppo) border crossings with Turkey. Al-Yarubiyah (the far east - the borders of Iraq), and the Al-Ramtha border crossing with Jordan (south).
However, it soon limited it gradually to the Bab al-Hawa crossing alone, under pressure from Moscow (Damascus's ally), which has been seeking for years to limit United Nations aid to that received from regime-controlled areas.
The earthquake struck Turkey and Syria at dawn on the sixth of February, but the United Nations aid through Bab al-Hawa did not enter until the ninth of it, and it consisted of tent equipment equipped since before the earthquake and sufficient for only 5 thousand people.
Several reasons delayed the entry of this aid, including damaged roads and damage to relief teams in both countries.
The delay of the United Nations and the limited aid drew criticism from residents and local organizations, led by the "White Helmets" - the Civil Defense in northwestern Syria - which described the matter as a "crime."
On February 12, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, acknowledged that the United Nations had "so far failed the people of northwestern Syria."
According to the international resolution, the United Nations does not need permission from the Damascus regime to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing, but it requires Damascus' approval in order to use other crossings.
The organization announced - in response to appeals and criticism - the opening of the Bab al-Salama and al-Rai border crossings with Turkey to its aid for a period of 3 months after obtaining the approval of the Syrian regime, but the aid is still small and does not match even its size before the earthquake.
After the earthquake, about 200 trucks were sent to northwestern Syria, compared to an average of 145 trucks per week in 2022, according to Doctors Without Borders.
"We are continuing with our partners to expand the scope of cross-border aid operations from Turkey into northwestern Syria," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said - during a press conference on Monday in New York.
He added that on Monday, "10 trucks loaded with tents and other materials provided by the International Organization for Migration crossed through the Al-Rai border crossing, to northern Aleppo."
"This is the first UN convoy to pass through this border crossing since the Syrian government agreed to use it to deliver aid, which raises the number of border crossings operating for the United Nations to 3," he added.
What about humanitarian organizations?
International humanitarian organizations may not use the United Nations mechanism, although they depend mainly on the Bab al-Hawa crossing, but they also use other crossings.
The day before yesterday, Sunday, the "Doctors Without Borders" organization sent a convoy loaded with tents through the Al-Hamam crossing in the Afrin region, after depleting its stocks in Idlib.
International organizations also provide aid through local partners.
The regional director of ActionAid, Rasha Nasereddin, says that several international organizations provide local partners with "funding to purchase what is needed from the local market or from Turkey."
What are the local obstacles?
The United Nations can bring in aid from the areas controlled by the Syrian regime, which rarely grants permits. The last convoy entered from the areas controlled by Damascus 3 weeks before the earthquake.
On the tenth of February, Damascus announced its agreement to send aid to northwestern Syria.
About 3 million people, the majority of whom are displaced, live in Idlib, while 1.1 million reside in the countryside of Aleppo.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is in charge of organizing the affairs of Idlib through civil institutions that faced the so-called "Salvation Government" and its own security and judicial agencies.
About a week after the earthquake occurred, the World Health Organization announced that it had obtained the approval of Damascus, but it was waiting for the green light from "the other side".