DUBAI, May 14. /TASS/. The government of Syria has resolved to keep two crossing points on the border with Turkey open for another three months to enable aid deliveries to earthquake-hit regions of the Arab Republic, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bassam Sabbagh has said.
"The Syrian Arab Republic has decided to extend the permission it granted to the UN and its specialized agencies to use the two border crossings of Bab Alsalama and al-Ra’i for an additional period of three months ending on 13 August 2023," the Syrian diplomat wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
In his words, the decision is based on the government’s "keenness on enhancing stability and improving the living and humanitarian situation of all Syrians" and comes within its efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need in all Syria.
The earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred on February 6 with nine-hour intervals in Kahramanmaras province in southeastern Turkey. Tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in neighboring countries, of which Syria was the most affected.
According to the Syrian authorities, around 400,000 people were affected by the earthquake in Syria, some 1,400 people died. The World Health Organization estimates that 4,537 people were killed in areas on the border with Turkey that are outside the Damascus government’s control.
By that time, the only Syrian-Turkish border crossing functioning within the UN-approved cross-border aid delivery mechanism was the Bab-al-Hawa facility. However, it was damaged by the earthquake and was able to reopen only on February 9. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced on February 14 that Syrian President Bashar Assad has agreed to open two additional border crossings, Bab Alsalama and al-Ra’I, for three months to facilitate aid deliveries.