Idlib

- Malek Al-Fares (38 years old) is intensifying his contacts with friends in northwestern Syria and southern Turkey, with the aim of securing a shipping company to bring aid to the earthquake-stricken areas, after he recently collected quantities of clothes from the neighborhood in which he lives - in A suburb of the French capital Paris - with the aim of helping those affected by the earthquake in northwest Syria.

Despite his efforts, Malik has not yet been able to send the aid he collected, due to the lack of ways to deliver aid through shipping companies from European countries to Turkey, especially to the earthquake-hit areas.

Syrian expatriates in France were able to collect medical aid to deliver it to the afflicted in northwest Syria (Al-Jazeera Net)

difficulties

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Faris says, "I have been trying for two weeks to send clothes and blankets through shipping companies in conjunction with our collection of financial aid, but most of the shipping companies that bring goods into northern Syria have stopped because they were damaged by the earthquake."

He added that there are campaigns to collect medicines, clothes, and even tents, but the problem lies in the lack of parties that can receive aid and bring it into northern Syria, commenting, "It cannot be sent to areas controlled by the regime, because officials do not deliver aid to civilians there, but rather steal it."

A number of Syrian expatriates campaigned for financial donations, in addition to collecting in-kind aid, including clothes, medicines, and some tents, in addition to pledges to send aid, including medical equipment.

For his part, Muhammad al-Akhras - a Syrian businessman living in the African country of Benin - embarked on a campaign to collect donations - including medicines - from his friends, especially those working in importing medicine, with the aim of delivering them to northwestern Syria.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, al-Akhras says, "We are trying to deliver aid through two ways, the first through Turkey by delivering it to a party that distributes it to the affected people, after losing hope in sending it through shipping companies and delivering it to the affected people through people we trust inside Syria."

Part of the aid that the displaced people received in northern Syria after the earthquake (Syrian Initiative Team)

As for the other way, al-Akhras says, "There is another way, but it is not guaranteed, and it is through the Iraqi city of Erbil, where materials are entered through the Semalka border crossing between Iraq and Syria, where it passes through the eastern areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, and then through the areas of the Syrian National Army." to enter the affected areas.

Accordingly, al-Akhras asserts that all these options face difficulties due to the lack of quick approval by the parties, or trucks may be denied entry, and this matter prevents us from sending aid before making sure that it reaches the needy, according to him.

Some Syrians inside Turkey worked to collect in-kind aid, including tents, winter blankets, and foodstuffs, and sent them through trucks with Turkish humanitarian associations to enter northern Syria.

Northwestern Syria needs various aids, especially heating, food and medicine (Al-Jazeera Net)

alternative solutions

For his part, the activist in the relief field in northern Syria, Muhammad al-Aido, offers a solution to address the problems of delivering in-kind aid provided by expatriates to the affected people, by sending it to trusted personalities inside Turkey, and then it is sent with the campaigns of organizations that send aid to the Syrian interior.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Eido adds, "During the past days, 57 Turkish aid trucks were brought in by Syrians and Turks through humanitarian associations, and expatriate aid can be collected in coordination with these associations and distributed with the sending of documentary videos proving the distribution of aid."

Campaign to collect aid by Syrians in Benin (Al-Jazeera)

The devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6 caused tens of thousands of victims in both countries, with the number of victims exceeding 50,000 so far, more than 6,000 of whom are on the Syrian side, while the northern regions are living in Western Syria has great difficulties due to the lack of humanitarian aid that entered these areas controlled by the Syrian opposition after years of war.