Lebanon affirms solidarity with Turkiye amid quake disaster

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, expressed his country’s solidarity with Turkiye after the massive 6 February earthquakes, which have claimed the lives of more than 43,500 people, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centred in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa and Elazig. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Turkiye in between 10 hours.

Bou Habib stated that he is paying a visit to Turkiye alongside Lebanese Minister of Public Affairs and Transport, Ali Hamie, expressing their condolences due to the disaster caused by the earthquakes.

“We are here to pay condolences. It’s a sad occasion, but we are happy to be in Turkiye because we feel that Turkiye is a friendly country and an ally of Lebanon,” Bou Habib told Anadolu.

Bou Habib stated that they met with a number of Turkish officials, especially Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the capital, Ankara.

Speaking about the Lebanese support for Lebanon, the top diplomat stressed that despite the “very limited resources” in his country, they extended their hand of help by sending rescue and search teams.

At least 120 Lebanese personnel came to Turkiye and carried out their rescue and search work for ten days.

Among the Lebanese team, there were 10 people who had previously received search and rescue training in Turkiye.

“Ten of them were trained and they volunteered to come … and I think they were proud that they came back to help,” he said.

He went on to stress that, despite the different political views, “the whole Lebanese people were, wholeheartedly feeling with Turkiye in this sad time.”

The Lebanese people showed solidarity and launched popular donation campaigns for those affected by the earthquakes, according to Bou Habib.

Although the earthquake catastrophe is “big and sad”, Bou Habib said, he was “sure that Turkiye would overcome it.”

Regarding the bilateral relations, Bou Habib said that Lebanon and Turkiye are two friendly countries with a common history and that they are working on developing mutual relations to make them as strong as possible.

He noted that there are constant talks between officials from both countries and Turkiye helps Lebanese ministries, especially “after the downfall of the economy”.

“We have excellent relations between Turkiye and Lebanon,” he added.

READ: Lebanese flee homes as new earthquake hit Turkey