Earthquake Registering 6.3 Hits Türkiye-Syria Border Region

People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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Earthquake Registering 6.3 Hits Türkiye-Syria Border Region

People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)
People react after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Türkiye, February 20, 2023. (Reuters)

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Türkiye-Syria border region late on Monday, setting off panic and damaging buildings in Turkey's Antakya city two weeks after the country's worst earthquake in modern history left tens of thousands dead.

Two Reuters witnesses reported a strong quake and further damage to buildings in central Antakya, where it was centered. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuters reporters said.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the tremor struck at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).

Other witnesses said Turkish rescue teams were running around after the latest quake, checking people were unharmed.

Muna Al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake hit.

"I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet," she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.

"Is there going to be another aftershock?" she asked.

The two larger earthquakes that hit on Feb. 6, which also rocked neighboring Syria, left more than a million homeless and killed far more than the latest official tally of 46,000 people in both countries.



Cyprus Says US Decree on Security Affirms Island's Stabilizing Role in Region

Nicosia, Cyprus | Photo: Getty Images
Nicosia, Cyprus | Photo: Getty Images
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Cyprus Says US Decree on Security Affirms Island's Stabilizing Role in Region

Nicosia, Cyprus | Photo: Getty Images
Nicosia, Cyprus | Photo: Getty Images

Cyprus on Thursday hailed a US memorandum allowing military sales, including arms, to the island as a milestone affirming recognition of the island as a pillar of stability in the east Mediterranean region which has been fraught with conflict.
US President Joe Biden boosted security ties with Cyprus on Wednesday by issuing a memorandum that makes the island eligible to receive American defense articles, military sales and training.
Cyprus has over the years played a key role in evacuating people out of conflict zones and established a maritime corridor for aid to war-ravaged Gaza last year.
"This (memorandum) is a clear recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as a pillar of stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean, with the potential to further contribute to peace and the management of humanitarian challenges," the Cypriot presidency said in a statement.
Cyprus was close to Russia for decades, but there has been a marked shift in allegiances in recent years, Reuters said.
For many in Cyprus, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drawn parallels to Türkiye’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and Cyprus, an EU member state, has followed its peers in adopting sanctions on Moscow. It is now getting FBI expertise in countering illicit finance.
Access to the US programs would enable greater interoperability to respond to regional humanitarian crises, counter malign influence, and combat terrorism and transnational organized crime, the US embassy in Nicosia said.
Deepening US-Cyprus relations are closely followed by Türkiye, which in September criticized the signing of a roadmap to boost defense co-operation between the United States and Cyprus.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion following a brief Greek-inspired coup in 1974, following years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots which triggered the collapse of a power-sharing administration in 1963.