Hundreds of bodies delivered across Turkey-Syrian border

• The UN assistance convoy of six trucks carrying non-food items.
• And shelter supplies entered northwest Syria from Turkey on Thursday.
• Ending a three-day period of no relief.

A United Nations assistance convoy of six trucks carrying non-food items (NFI) and shelter supplies entered northwest Syria from Turkey on Thursday through the Bab Al Hawa crossing.

The only route for supplies between Turkey and the rebel-held parts of northern Syria.

According to the government in charge of the only point of entry between the two countries, the delivery brought an end to a three-day period during which no relief arrived.

“How are roads okay for cars carrying bodies, but not for aid?” Mazen Alloush, Bab al-Hawa’s frustrated spokesperson had asked Media.

A senior relief official previously told Media that the disaster had made it “extremely difficult” to provide aid to those in Syria’s earthquake-devastated regions because passageways along the border had been wrecked.

Syria’s scenario is very different from Turkey’s, where 70 states and 14 international organizations have quickly contributed rescue teams, contributions, and assistance.

The protracted civil war between opposition groups and the Syrian government, headed by President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of killing his own people, has made it difficult to get vital supplies to earthquake-stricken parts of northern Syria.

Any aid the country receives, according to Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, must pass through Damascus.

That means that rebel-held regions, where millions were already suffering from the ravages of acute poverty and a cholera outbreak before the earthquake hit, are dependent on assistance organizations like the UN.

Protesters holding signs at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing ask why only bodies are being allowed through.

The bodies are those of Syrian refugees who fled to Turkey in search of protection; they are being returned to be buried there.

Meanwhile, “Syrians don’t know where their next meal comes from. When we say meal, it’s not about vegetables, not about meat… it’s about simple bread,” said Moutaz Adham, Oxfam’s country director for Syria.

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