UN aid flow to north-west Syria halted temporarily 

The flow of aid from Turkey to north-west Syria has stopped temporarily due to the devastating earthquake in the region in the early hours of Monday morning, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday. This has left emergency aid workers grappling with the problem of how to help people in a country fractured by war, Reuters reported the UN official as saying.

The cross-border aid operation overseen by the UN since 2014 has been crucial to Syrians who have fled from regime-controlled areas during the conflict in their country. According to Reuters, there is no clear picture of when the aid — upon which some four million people depend — will resume.

“We continue to use the Bab Al-Hawa crossing as the transhipment hub is actually intact,” explained UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “However, the road that is leading to the crossing has been damaged and that has temporarily disrupted our ability to use it fully.”

The death toll of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria has so far passed 11,000 as rescuers fight bitter cold to find bodies and survivors in the rubble.

READ: As death toll climbs, Syrians continue to wait for aid