THE LEBANESE Hezbollah resistance movement has dispatched a humanitarian aid convoy to earthquake-affected areas in Syria, at the same time, condemning Western governments’ ‘fake advocacy’ for human rights.
The aid convoy of 22 trucks arrived in Syria’s western city of Lattakia, which is located on the Mediterranean Sea, on Monday and included tents, foodstuffs, sanitation supplies, other daily necessities and medical equipment.
The relief supplies can meet the needs of thousands of people.
Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, stated that the shipment will be followed by other batches of emergency aid to Aleppo and elsewhere in quake-devastated areas of Syria.
‘Earthquake victims are in dire need of assistance. Syria has always stood at our side in times of need,’ Safieddine said, emphasising that Hezbollah ‘will support the Syrians and will not leave them without any help throughout the current difficult situation.’
‘The West showed its true colours during the crisis, and exposed its fake human rights gestures,’ the senior Hezbollah official noted.
Earlier, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem told Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Manar television network that countries around the world must rush to send rescue workers, equipment and aid to help victims of the earthquake.
He offered his condolences to the Syrian people and government, saying Hezbollah has dispatched convoys of humanitarian aid to quake-hit areas.
Sheikh Qassem argued that US sanctions, backed by most Arab countries, are hampering relief and rescue operations, adding that the coercive measures run contrary to the fundamental humanitarian principles.
The top Hezbollah official stressed that the West must realise that Syrians are all united in the fight against the Takfiri terrorist groups and that the nation will not accept any foreign diktats.
An aid convoy under the title ‘Caesar’s Law Under Our Feet’ provided by the Arab Socialist Baath Party in Lebanon to the quake victims headed for Syria on Monday.
The convoy includes dozens of trucks loaded with foodstuffs, medical supplies and equipment needed by the survivors.
An Iraqi plane carrying ten tons of relief, food and medical materials for those affected by the earthquake also arrived at Aleppo International Airport on Monday.
Chargé d’Affairs of the Iraqi Embassy in Damascus, Yassin Sharif Al-Hujaimi, affirmed that his country will continue to stand by Syria through the air bridge cargo and land convoys that transport aid until Syria overcomes the effects of the earthquake disaster that struck it.
‘The Iraqi government held an urgent meeting immediately after the earthquake in Syria, and all ministries were instructed to provide medical, food and logistical humanitarian aid to the Syrian people in a fraternal initiative,’ Al-Hujaimi said in a press statement at the Iraqi embassy in Damascus.
Al-Hujaimi pointed out that the volume of humanitarian aid provided to Syria by land and air has exceeded 4,000 tons, which will continue to be offered.
Immediately after the earthquake disaster, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence established an air bridge between Iraq and Syria to deliver aid, Al-Hujaimi noted.
He stated that there are many humanitarian initiatives to collect donations and organise aid convoys by the Iraqi people to provide relief to the Syrian people, adding that the government and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicate daily with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Syria in order to meet humanitarian needs.
Syria’s Quneitra province has sent a relief convoy, including six trucks, to the quake-affected areas in the provinces of Aleppo and Lattakia.
The aid comes within the Syrian government’s framework of the emergency response plan to the repercussions of the earthquake that hit a number of provinces, and also involves private efforts in cooperation with the local community, and popular, religious and youth actors, civil and charitable associations, Governor of Quneitra, Engineer Mu’ataz Jamran Abu al-Nasr, stated.
He added that three truck loads of aid will head to Aleppo province and three others will head to Lattakia province.
The Governor noted that the provided aid includes foodstuffs, clothes, blankets, mattresses, drinking water and other materials needed for citizens in temporary shelters.
He stressed the continuation of providing in-kind and material assistance by the people of Quneitra to support their brothers in the quake-hit areas.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Monday that Russia is continuing to provide assistance to Syria following the February 6th earthquake.
‘We are in constant contact with the Syrian government. Russia is exerting great efforts to provide assistance to the victims of this devastating earthquake in Syria,’ Sputnik quoted Peskov as saying to reporters, in response to a question about Moscow’s measures regarding the situation in Syria.
Russia has provided medical and humanitarian assistance to those affected by the earthquake, and Russian teams participated in rescue operations for those trapped under the rubble.
Elsewhere, a group of Syrian Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates, in cooperation with the Syrian consulate in Dubai, conducted an initiative titled ‘For the Sake of Syria’ for fundraising and assistance for their brothers affected by the earthquake.
The initiative has already received 18 tons of relief aid which was scheduled to be handed over to the UAE Red Crescent in preparation to be delivered to Syria.
The participants in the initiative expressed their stand by their homeland, calling upon the countries of the world to lift the Western siege imposed on the Syrian citizens, particularly during this difficult plight.
They also stressed that they will conduct anther initiative during the coming days, in cooperation with the Syrian Consulate, to offer assistance to those who have lost their homes and families.
Three Emirati planes also arrived on Monday at the international airports of Damascus and Lattakia, carrying relief aid.
Syrian news agency SANA’s reporter stated that the Emirati plane which flew into Damascus airport was laden with 86 tons and 420 kilogrammes of aid, including foodstuffs, tents and blankets.
In turn, the Director of Lattakia International Airport, Engineer Ziyad al-Taweel said that the first Emirati plane that arrived at Lattakia Airport was loaded with 34 tons of foodstuffs, while the second plane carried aid, equipment and logistical tools needed for the Emirati rescue team in the affected areas.
Al-Taweel added that the cargo also included water tanks, pre-equipped mobile rooms and other equipment needed in such disasters.
Meanwhile, the United Nations says an anti-government group which it identified as the terrorist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is preventing aid consignments from being delivered to the earthquake-stricken areas in the northern part of Syria.
The group has been waging deadly violence against Syrian people and government forces alike since 2011, when Syria found itself in the grip of foreign-backed terrorism.
The northern part of Syria, which is currently under HTS’ control, has received little relief aid as terrorists have sealed front lines with the government, despite last week’s announcement by Damascus that it is willing to send aid to that region.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Syria on Monday (February 6th) has risen to more than 4,300. The death toll in neighbouring Turkey has also risen to over 32,000.
The biggest proportion of the fatalities in Syria has occurred in the territory that is being held by the Takfiri terrorist groups.
The collective West has displayed an inhuman politicised approach by ignoring thousands of victims and terrible destruction in earthquake-stricken Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing last Friday.
‘The collective West ignored the fact that the earthquake, with its epicentre in Turkey, resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and horrible destruction directly in Syria,’ she noted.
‘This is not just a display of the politicised approach which the West is guided by in the process of providing humanitarian assistance to those affected in that country – this is something monstrous,’ the diplomat added.
