Donations and Despair: Syria’s Northwest Tries to Rebuild after Quake

Intisar Sheikho, stands on rubble of the building where her brother Musheer and his family lived, that collapsed from last month's deadly earthquake in the opposition-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Intisar Sheikho, stands on rubble of the building where her brother Musheer and his family lived, that collapsed from last month's deadly earthquake in the opposition-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 12, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

Donations and Despair: Syria’s Northwest Tries to Rebuild after Quake

Intisar Sheikho, stands on rubble of the building where her brother Musheer and his family lived, that collapsed from last month's deadly earthquake in the opposition-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Intisar Sheikho, stands on rubble of the building where her brother Musheer and his family lived, that collapsed from last month's deadly earthquake in the opposition-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Hussein Mankawi has little hope he will ever rebuild his home and food distribution businesses in the northwest Syrian city of Jandaris after they were reduced to rubble by last month's deadly earthquake, wiping out his life's work.

"What can we do? We'll put up a tent instead. There is nothing but tents," he said, standing by the mangled ruins of his home in the rebel-held region.

The Feb. 6 earthquakes were the worst modern-day natural disasters to strike Syria and Türkiye, killing more than 56,000 people across the two countries.

Türkiye has pledged state-led efforts to rebuild more than 300,000 homes within the first year and the cash-strapped Syrian government has created a compensation fund for victims and offered temporary housing to the displaced.

But this help is unlikely to reach Syria's northwest, an enclave controlled by rival anti-government opposition factions and home to 4.5 million people -- 2 million of whom lived in tented camps even before the quake struck, according to the United Nations.

International organizations struggle to access the zone regularly and there has been no visible centralized reconstruction effort.

The UN says more than 100,000 people have been displaced in the region since the first quake struck.

On the edge of destitution and with nowhere to turn, residents are trying to make do on their own.

Mankawi is recovering what possessions he can with help from a local entrepreneur who agreed to move the rubble of his home in return for keeping the metal inside it - a deal underscoring the deep deprivation in the area.

"No-one is helping us at all. We've seen nothing," Mankawi said.

Obstacles

Damage has not been limited to homes.

In Jandaris, one of the hardest-hit areas, half of the 48 schools required reconstruction or repairs, as did more than 20 kilometers of water and sanitation networks and most of the city's roads, said Mahmoud Haffar, head of the local council.

But he said local authorities did not have the resources to rebuild.

"Frankly, local capabilities are very limited and (rebuilding) will require international help... there is no clear funding for reconstruction and repairs," he said.

Donors at an EU-led conference on Monday pledged 7 billion euros ($7.5bln) to help reconstruct Türkiye.

But the bloc has sanctions on Damascus in place and said it would only finance humanitarian assistance and early recovery but not full-scale reconstruction for as long as there is no political dialogue between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his adversaries.

Foreign state funding for reconstruction in the region held by opposition factions, who seek Assad's ouster, faces additional stumbling blocks, according to three diplomats working on Syria.

The presence of rival armed groups in the region is one of the main issues, they say, noting that the most powerful group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is designated a terrorist organization by the US and United Nations.

Most international aid that has reached the area over the past decade has been earmarked for humanitarian relief, not reconstruction, a trend that was likely to continue, according to Karam Shaar, a political economist at the Middle East Institute think-tank.

"In the foreseeable future, people will continue to rely on private funding to reconstruct their buildings or just move to tents instead," he said.

Crowdfunded recovery

Before the quakes struck, Syrian NGO Molham Team was building a sprawling 1,500-unit housing complex in Azaz, driven by the ambitious goal of relocating families from tents into formal housing, team member Baraa Baboli said.

It was inspired by the realization that Syrians could not wait for help from outside, and was financed through online crowdfunding.

After the quake, Molham launched a new appeal, raising more than $11 million intended for the construction of an additional 2,300 units between Idlib, Salqin and Harem - all areas hit hard by the quake.

Meanwhile, property developers in the area say they have begun to adapt their construction plans to fit quake trauma and potential shortages in raw materials.

Abdo Zamzam, the director of a local construction company, said projects before the quake were mostly four- to five-story buildings but consultations with locals showed most people now wanted to live in one- or two-story buildings they deemed safer.

Price rises

Construction materials in the enclave are almost entirely imported from Türkiye, raising fears the Syrian zone could face shortages when mass reconstruction begins across the border or struggle to pay higher prices.

Prices of cement and metal have already risen by around 30 percent, according to developers and a Syrian border official, from $85 to more than $120 for a ton of cement, and from $600 to more than $800 for a ton of metal.

A senior Turkish official told Reuters authorities had not restricted exports of materials needed for construction - such as cement, sand and tiles - and had no plans to do so as these materials were abundant in Türkiye.

At the Turkish-Syrian border crossing at Cilvegozu, long lines of trucks, many loaded with cement from factories based in southern Türkiye purchased by private traders in Syria, have waited to cross into northwest Syria.

At the same crossing, tens of thousands of Syrians have crossed back into their homelands, many to rebuild their lives in the northwest, risking more pressure on already-scarce housing.

About 55,000 Syrians have returned since mid-February, Syrian opposition border official Mazen Alloush said, adding they had not yet recorded any trips back to Türkiye.

Ahmad al-Ahmad, a 22-year-old Syrian who worked as a tailor in the devastated Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, said he was moving back to Syria after both his home and workplace were heavily damaged.

He said he did not know what awaited him.

"We were looking for a better life," he said as he waited to be let through the border with his family.

"We migrated in order to settle down and now we are back to square one; displacement after displacement."



What to Know about Israel's Ground Invasion in Southern Lebanon

A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
TT

What to Know about Israel's Ground Invasion in Southern Lebanon

A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Israel’s ground invasion in Lebanon stretched into its second week, as the Hezbollah militant group fired hundreds of rockets deep into Israel — with no end in sight to the escalating conflict.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon — mostly in airstrikes — and over a million displaced since the fighting intensified in mid-September. At least 15 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed since the ground operation began, and more than 60,000 people have been displaced from towns along the border for more than a year.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, attacked southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since, coming close to a full-fledged war on several occasions but stepping back from the brink until this month, The Associated Press said.
Here’s what to know about the current ground incursion in southern Lebanon:
What is the aim of the Israeli military’s ground invasion? The Israeli military began what they called a “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” in southern Lebanon on Oct. 1. The same day, the military said that it had carried out dozens of secretive cross-border operations to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure over the past year. The aim, Israel says, is to allow its displaced residents to return home.
A military official said that thousands of Israeli troops are currently operating along the roughly 100-kilometer-long (62-mile) border, clearing the area just along the border to try to remove the launch pads where Hezbollah fires rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles into Israeli towns, as well as infrastructure they say would allow for an Oct. 7-style invasion of Israel.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the military’s strategy, said the troops haven’t ventured deep inside Lebanon so far, and have conducted operations from distances of a few hundred meters (yards) up to 2 to 3 kilometers (1.5 to 2 miles) into Lebanese territory.
The Israeli military has shared videos of what it says are underground tunnels chiseled into rock used by Hezbollah. The tunnels are used to store weapons and stage attacks. One tunnel stretched from Lebanon into Israeli territory, according to the military.
The goal is not to destroy Hezbollah, and the army is aware that this will not remove the threat of longer-range rockets and missiles, the official said.
Elijah Magnier, a Brussels-based military and counterterrorism analyst, said Israeli forces haven’t seized any ground positions yet.
“They need to go in, harass, test and come out,” Magnier said. In order to hold ground positions, Israel would need tanks to come in and take high critical ground overlooking territory, he said. He estimates it would require clearing some 10 kilometers of Hezbollah presence, which is still a long way off.
It is not clear how long the operation will last or how long Israel will maintain a presence in these towns. The official said the hope is that this can lead to a diplomatic arrangement pushing Hezbollah away from the border. But the plans could change. A previous Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, initially intended to push back Palestinian militants, turned into an 18-year occupation.
What is Hezbollah’s strategy? Hezbollah officials, including assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, have conceded that the Israeli military has the superior air force and intelligence. But Hezbollah has the advantage in direct confrontations on Lebanese turf.
Hezbollah forces have better equipment and training compared to Hamas, which Israel has been battling for more than a year in Gaza. Hezbollah forces gained experience in wars in Syria and Iraq. Lebanon’s terrain is also more rugged and challenging than the Palestinian enclave, which is mostly flat and sandy.
Hezbollah’s strategy, led by its elite Radwan Forces, has been drawing in and ambushing incoming Israeli troops, detonating explosive devices or firing rockets at them, and firing artillery and rockets at Israeli border towns. Although Hezbollah has lost many of its top officials and commanders in recent weeks, militants have continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel, including heavy barrages on the city of Haifa.
Former Lebanese Army General Hassan Jouni said that he assessed Israel is still conducting reconnaissance ahead of its main attack, but that it had already suffered heavy losses in the smaller operations. Jouni said Hezbollah had dug many tunnels in the south and were well equipped with weapons caches and ammunition.
“The land always works in the favor of those who own it,” he said.
How does this compare to the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah? Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006, a 34-day conflict that ended with the United Nations Resolution 1701, which was supposed to push Hezbollah further north and keep the border region exclusively under the control of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
Israeli leaders say they want Lebanon to implement the resolution. Hezbollah says Israel hasn’t held up its part of the treaty and will stop firing rockets when there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s searing air campaign in southern Lebanon and Beirut in recent weeks is similar to the 2006 war, though this time, better intelligence has enabled Israel to kill several of Hezbollah’s top leadership.
“The Air Force is better and is using all kinds of methods to penetrate deeper into the ground, like dropping bomb after bomb after bomb,” said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September by dropping more than 80 bombs on an apartment complex built over an underground compound in quick succession.
In the 2006 war, Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon after 10 days of airstrikes before withdrawing them about four weeks later. Troops attempted to reach the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) north of the border, but suffered heavy losses before a ceasefire ended the operation and the war.
Could there be a diplomatic solution? Hezbollah’s acting leader signaled Tuesday that the group is open to a cease-fire. Guzansky believes Israeli troops will stay on the ground in southern Lebanon until there is an internationally enforced diplomatic solution that’s stronger than the current UN peacekeeping force. If Israeli troops retreat, he said, they risk the same situation as 2006, where Hezbollah simply rearmed and resumed operations.
But former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was Israel’s leader during the 2006 war, said that war served as a lesson that immediate diplomacy, rather than military force, is the only way to keep the border quiet.
“Why not try and make a deal now rather than to fight for half a year?” he asked in an interview with The Associated Press. “You lose how many soldiers, kill how many innocent people? And then in the end we’ll make a deal which may have been made in advance.”