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Aid Group Issues Urgent Appeal for Quake-Hit Syria

Local NGOs set up tents to provide shelter and food for people who lost their homes in a devastating earthquake in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP)
Local NGOs set up tents to provide shelter and food for people who lost their homes in a devastating earthquake in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP)
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Aid Group Issues Urgent Appeal for Quake-Hit Syria

Local NGOs set up tents to provide shelter and food for people who lost their homes in a devastating earthquake in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP)
Local NGOs set up tents to provide shelter and food for people who lost their homes in a devastating earthquake in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP)

The group Doctors Without Borders called Sunday for the "urgent scaling up" of earthquake aid to northwest Syria as it delivered a convoy laden with emergency assistance.

Aid has been slow to reach Syria's rebel-held areas since the February 6 quake killed a combined total of more than 43,000 people across Türkiye and Syria.

"An urgent increase in the volume of supplies is needed to match the scale of the humanitarian crisis," said the French aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

It charged that supplies "currently fail to even match pre-earthquake volumes".

"Aid is trickling in in negligible amounts for the moment," said Hakim Khaldi, MSF's head of mission in Syria. "We emptied our emergency stocks in three days."

"According to UN data, five days after the earthquake, only 10 trucks had entered" opposition-held areas of Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Türkiye, MSF said.

It added that "in the 10 days following the earthquake, the number of trucks that crossed the border into northwest Syria was lower than the average weekly number for 2022".

A convoy of 14 trucks laden with 1,269 tents and winter kits sent by MSF had arrived in Syria through the Al-Hammam crossing in the Afrin area on Sunday.

"The delivery was arranged outside of the United Nations cross-border humanitarian mechanism," the group said.

Activists and emergency teams in Syria's northwest have decried a slow UN response to the quake in opposition-held areas, contrasting it with the planeloads of aid that have been delivered to government-controlled airports.

Before the quake struck, almost all of the crucial humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in opposition-controlled areas was being delivered through just one crossing, Bab al-Hawa.

The UN announced on Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to open two more border crossings from Türkiye to northwest Syria to allow in aid.

Since the quake, the UN has sent more than 170 aid trucks to northwest Syria.

The conflict in Syria started in 2011 with the Damascus regime’s brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global extremists.

Nearly half a million people have been killed, and the conflict has forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.

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Hamas Comes Under Pressure in Lebanon

The Supreme Defense Council, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, issued a recommendation to the government to warn Hamas against using Lebanese territory for any actions that undermine national security (Lebanese Presidency)
The Supreme Defense Council, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, issued a recommendation to the government to warn Hamas against using Lebanese territory for any actions that undermine national security (Lebanese Presidency)
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Hamas Comes Under Pressure in Lebanon

The Supreme Defense Council, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, issued a recommendation to the government to warn Hamas against using Lebanese territory for any actions that undermine national security (Lebanese Presidency)
The Supreme Defense Council, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, issued a recommendation to the government to warn Hamas against using Lebanese territory for any actions that undermine national security (Lebanese Presidency)

Relations between Hamas and the Lebanese state have entered a critical phase not seen since the country’s civil war era. In a rare and direct move, Lebanon’s Supreme Defense Council on Friday named Hamas in an official warning, cautioning the group against using Lebanese territories to conduct activities that threaten national security.

The warning follows rocket attacks in March, allegedly launched by Hamas operatives toward Israel from southern Lebanon, and signals a turning point in Beirut’s handling of the longstanding issue of Palestinian arms.

The issue is expected to dominate discussions during the upcoming visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Beirut on May 21. Lebanese authorities are reportedly preparing to demand that Hamas hand over individuals implicated in the rocket attacks.

Hamas officials in Lebanon declined to comment immediately, but sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that an official statement from the group is forthcoming.

Last month, the Lebanese army said it had identified those responsible for the March 22 and 28 rocket launches, revealing a cell composed of Lebanese and Palestinian nationals. Subsequent raids led to several arrests and the seizure of equipment used in the attacks. Security sources later confirmed the detention of three Hamas members - two Palestinians and one Lebanese.

Analysts and insiders believe Hamas now finds itself increasingly isolated in Lebanon. According to Palestinian political analyst Hisham Debassy, the group has little choice but to comply with Lebanese demands, including potentially disarming.

“The Defense Council’s position marks a serious and strategic shift,” said Debassy. “It sends a strong political message not just to Hamas but to any non-state actor operating militarily on Lebanese soil.”

Debassy described Hamas as being at a crossroads. “Either it cooperates with Lebanese authorities by handing over wanted individuals and signaling respect for state sovereignty, or it continues down a path of confrontation, an option that carries significant political and security costs.”

He noted that Hamas currently lacks the internal cohesion and public support to take a defiant stance. Internal divisions have grown between factions aligned with Iran and others favoring political reintegration within the broader Muslim Brotherhood framework.

Political analyst Dr. Qassem Qassir said Hamas’ leadership, based largely in Qatar, remains mindful of Lebanon’s fragile security. “Hamas doesn’t want to endanger Lebanon,” he said, adding that the group is likely to act cautiously given the broader regional context.

Meanwhile, Abbas’ visit is seen as an opportunity to reshape Palestinian-Lebanese relations and advance state authority in Palestinian camps. Lebanese officials are seeking a roadmap, backed by the Palestinian Authority, that could lead to the phased dismantling of weapons in refugee camps, following similar efforts targeting pro-Syrian Palestinian factions in the Bekaa and Naameh regions.

Hamas’ presence in Lebanon had traditionally been limited to social and political activities. But its military footprint began to emerge after a 2022 explosion in the Burj al-Shemali camp. Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, Hamas’s armed wing has become more active in southern Lebanon, coordinating with Hezbollah in launching attacks on Israel, further complicating its position with Lebanese authorities.