Top UN Aid Official: Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles

People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
TT
20

Top UN Aid Official: Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles

People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
People gather as rescuers search for survivors under the rubble, following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria, February 6. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

A top UN humanitarian official said damage to roads, fuel shortages and harsh winter weather in Syria were hampering the agency's response to an earthquake on Monday that killed more than 1,200 in the country and left millions in need of aid.

The huge tremor, which also left more than 2,300 people dead in Türkiye, sent people rushing into the streets in Syria's north, where past airstrikes and shelling have already traumatized the population and weakened many buildings.

"The infrastructure is damaged, the roads that we used to use for humanitarian work are damaged, we have to be creative in how to get to the people... but we are working hard," UN resident coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih told Reuters in an interview via video link from Damascus.

Even before the magnitude 7.8 quake struck in the early hours of Monday morning, the UN estimated that more than 4 million people in northwest Syria, many displaced by the 12-year conflict and living in camps, depended on cross-border aid.

While Syrian frontlines have been largely frozen for years, a deepening economic crisis has exacted a heavy toll across the fractured nation, leading to fuel shortages, increased power cuts and growing deprivation.

The United Nations says the number of people in need of humanitarian support is greater than at any point since the war began, with 70% of the population requiring aid.

And that was before the quake struck.

Now, "they are the same people - suffering more," Benlamlih said.

He noted that many people whose homes had been destroyed were spending the night sleeping out in the open or in cars, often in freezing temperatures, without adequate access to basic items like jackets and mattresses.

He said the United Nations was working to mobilize all the aid it could to the affected zones - both in government-held and opposition-held areas - as quickly as possible.

But international support is stretched and underfunded.

The UN received less than half of the $4.4 billion it required from donors to meet growing needs in 2022, and if that trend continues, Benlamlih said prospects for a recovery from the Syrian crisis could dim.

"Whatever we have, we are using it for now. And hopefully we will be able to get that replenished for the normal needs," Benlamlih said.

"When we are getting less than 50% of funding, it's not that we managed.. The number of the people in need keep increasing and the crisis keeps deepening."



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
TT
20

Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.