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Germany calls to allow entry of aid to opposition areas in Syria

February 8, 2023 at 9:29 am

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock on November 14, 2022 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock yesterday called on Russia to help pressure Syria into allowing humanitarian aid into the country for victims of Monday’s deadly earthquakes quickly and without additional obstacles, Reuters reported.

“All international actors, including Russia, should exert their pressure on the Syrian regime to ensure humanitarian help for victims can arrive,” said Baerbock during a news conference in Berlin with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirsojan.

“It’s important that weapons are now set aside and all efforts in the region are focused on humanitarian aid and on recovering and protecting victims,” said Baerbock, adding that every minute counted.

READ: UK presses UN to open new aid routes into Syria amid earthquake crisis

With a confirmed death toll in Syria already above 1,600, rescue workers from across the frozen front lines of the country’s 12-year civil war have said that hundreds more people likely remain under the rubble.

Adelheid Marschang, a WHO senior emergency officer, said yesterday that Syria was in need of massive humanitarian aid after the quake, which was “a crisis on top of multiple crises”.

Aid to Syria, with which Germany has no official relations, is being sent via international non-governmental organisations.