Schools Reopen as Syrians Live with Quake’s Devastation

Residents sit at home in a building damaged by the February 6 earthquake, in Aleppo city's al-Masharqa neighbourhood, on February 21, 2023. (AFP)
Residents sit at home in a building damaged by the February 6 earthquake, in Aleppo city's al-Masharqa neighbourhood, on February 21, 2023. (AFP)
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Schools Reopen as Syrians Live with Quake’s Devastation

Residents sit at home in a building damaged by the February 6 earthquake, in Aleppo city's al-Masharqa neighbourhood, on February 21, 2023. (AFP)
Residents sit at home in a building damaged by the February 6 earthquake, in Aleppo city's al-Masharqa neighbourhood, on February 21, 2023. (AFP)

Schools resumed classes in Syria’s opposition-held northwest Saturday after closing for nearly three weeks following an earthquake that devastated the region, local officials said, even as many schoolchildren suffer from shock.

Many schools were turned into temporary shelters following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Türkiye and neighboring parts of Syria on Feb. 6 and killed tens of thousands of people.

The quake left homeless hundreds of thousands of people in the area, many of whom had already been displaced by Syria's 12-year-long war. Because of that conflict, the opposition-held area has also struggled to receive urgently needed humanitarian aid.

Many students were absent from their classes Saturday as their homes were damaged by the quake and their families now reside far away from the schools, said Abdulkafi Al-Hamdou a citizen journalist in the region.

“Some students were worried about being inside the building and were on edge whenever they heard a sound such as a desk being moved,” Al-Hamdou said by telephone while visiting a school. “Many students are suffering from severe fear and anxiety. They are still in shock.”

An official with the education department in the region, Ziad al-Omar, said 39 teachers and 421 students were killed by the earthquake. He added that some 250 schools suffered damage including 203 that were partially destroyed and 46 that had cracks in the walls though the structures were still standing.

Over the past days, displaced people were asked to leave schools and many of them moved into shelters to live in tents. But prices of tents have been shooting up amid shortages and sell for about $200 or four times above the pre-earthquake price. A solid tent with metal stands can cost up to $400, in a region where more than 90% of the population live in poverty and rely on aid for food and medicine.

Education officials in opposition-held Idlib said the last two hours on Saturday and Sunday will be used to train students on how to evacuate buildings during earthquakes.

One of those who lost a home in the quake is Ayesha, a resident of the town of Atareb in rural Aleppo who had to evacuate her home to live in a tent. She told The Associated Press that the temporary shelter offered to her extended family of 13 people had to be evacuated because organizers said schools are about to resume and the courtyard where tents had been set up had to be vacated.

“They gave us a tent in a school. Then they said the students have to return and they started evacuating us,” she said, giving only her first name like most women in the conservative area.

Having a big family, Ayesha rented a small house on the edge of Atareb but four days after they moved there, a new 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday. “The house, thankfully didn’t collapse, but the walls have cracks," she said. “The ceiling remained in place.”

Since then, the family has set up a tent in the street out of fear of more aftershocks.

According to the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, the earthquake killed 2,274 people and injured more about 12,400 in the opposition-held region. The quake also destroyed 550 buildings and heavily damaged at least 1,570 others, according to the White Helmets.

The total death toll of the earthquake is estimated to surpass 47,000 people in Türkiye and Syria — with the vast majority of deaths in Türkiye.



US and Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen Both Vow Escalation after Wave of US Airstrikes

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
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US and Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen Both Vow Escalation after Wave of US Airstrikes

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the US launched airstrikes to deter the militants from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks.

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded over 100 in the capital of Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the militias’ stronghold.

Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He didn't identify them or give evidence. Rubio said some Houthi facilities had been destroyed.

The Houthis’ political bureau has said the militias will respond to the US strikes and “meet escalation with escalation.”

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the militants have called acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. They sank two merchant vessels.

Rubio said that over the past 18 months, the Houthis had attacked the US Navy “directly” 174 times and attacked commercial shipping 145 times with “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The attacks sparked the most serious combat the US Navy had seen since World War II.

The overnight US airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

The Houthi attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in Gaza in January, but last week the militants said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

On Sunday, Iran responded to Trump's warning and denied aiding the Houthis.

The head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis' attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the US to halt its airstrikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran's foreign policy.

The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the militias. The US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the Houthis.

The United States, Israel and Britain previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was conducted solely by the US It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which includes the carrier, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, are in the Red Sea and were part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.