BODIES OF MORE THAN 1,500 SYRIANS REPATRIATED FROM TURKEY

Sat 18 February 2023:

The bodies of at least 1,522 Syrians have been brought back to Syria from Turkey for burial, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing said.

Syrian survivors of the earthquake have also begun crossing back from Turkey. Some 1,795 Syrians crossed from Turkey into Syria on Wednesday, the first day after Turkey agreed to allow Syrian refugees affected by the earthquake to return to their country temporarily without losing their protected status in Turkey, the border-crossing official said.

The decision allows Syrian holders of Turkish temporary protection cards residing in earthquake-damaged areas to cross into Syria without having to obtain a travel permit from Turkish authorities.

Normally, Turkey would consider Syrians holding protected status who crossed into Syria without a permit to have relinquished their status as asylum seekers and they would be prevented from re-entering Turkey for five years.

UN trucks bringing crucial aid to northwest Syria

A total of 178 trucks carrying aid from Turkey into northwest Syria have crossed the border since February 9, the UN has said.

Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Friday the trucks carried a “multitude” of items from six UN agencies – including tents, mattresses, blankets, winter clothes, cholera-testing kits, essential medicines and food from the World Food Program.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that, according to recent assessments in Syria’s northwest, 50,000 households need tents or emergency shelter and at least 88,000 households need mattresses, thermal blankets and clothing. In addition, the UN’s partners say hospitals and medical centres “are overstretched and under-resourced”, he said.

178 trucks with lifesaving supplies have now crossed into north-west #Syria in the last 9 days, and we expect to see more trucks cross daily.

Our priority is getting as much aid across the border as quickly as possible for as long as needed. pic.twitter.com/ksffAucaHw

— Sanjana Quazi (@SanjanaQuazi) February 17, 2023