New Delhi: India is planning to send more aid to Syria where catastrophic earthquakes have led to a massive humanitarian crisis even as Damascus wants New Delhi to deploy rescue teams in that war-torn country, ABP Live has learnt.
Like Türkiye, Syria has also been facing aftershocks and tremors across the earthquake-hit provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Latakia, and the death toll is increasing. However, unlike in Türkiye, humanitarian aid has reached Syria in a much slower pace as these provinces are between government-controlled and opposition-held areas.
On Thursday, the Syrian government wrote a letter to India requesting more aid, and most importantly deployment of rescue teams there as New Delhi has done in Turkey, sources told ABP Live.
According to the sources, India is planning to send one more military aircraft to Syria with medicines, medical equipment and protective gears among others. But, the sources said, New Delhi may not be sending rescue teams at this moment.
Earlier this week, India sent one C-130J Super Hercules airlifter carrying six tonnes of relief material, including three truckloads of general and protective gear, emergency use medicines, syringes and equipment, including ECG machines, monitors, and other essential medical items.
Due to non-stop tremors, the death toll in Syria has now reached 3,450 while more than 10,000 are injured. Over 100 buildings have collapsed. The country is witnessing a rising number of deaths there and growing problems of shortage of food, shelter and clothing.
The Syrian government has hence asked India to send NDRF teams to carry out rescue and search operations and to also help facilitate the aid.
So far, Pakistan has sent more than 40 tonnes of aid to Syria. Other countries that have sent relief include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia and Belarus.
US Lifts Economic Sanctions From Syria For 6 Months
While aid has been pouring into that country mainly from the neighbouring governments, the US has offered temporary relief from the economic sanctions for a period of six months, apart from allocating an $85 million aid package for both Türkiye and Syria.
“Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Syria General License (GL) 23, which authorizes for 180 days all transactions related to earthquake relief that would be otherwise prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (SySR),” US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said Thursday.
He also said: “As international allies and humanitarian partners mobilize to help those affected, I want to make very clear that U.S. sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of life-saving efforts for the Syrian people. While U.S. sanctions programs already contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts, today Treasury is issuing a blanket General License to authorize earthquake relief efforts so that those providing assistance can focus on what’s needed most: saving lives and rebuilding.”
Adeyemo said the US sanctions programs do not target legitimate humanitarian assistance, including earthquake disaster relief efforts.
“Now that the US has lifted the sanctions it will ease the pressure on aid agencies and individuals, those Syrians living abroad who want to send money to their families back in Syria. But we need more help,” said Waiel Awwad, Senior Syrian Analyst based in India.
Awwad also said that the European Union should also lift its sanctions. “It is after all a humanitarian crisis.”
The US had imposed sanctions on Syria owing to its support to terrorism, activities in Lebanon, and other Syrian government activities. The sanctions became tighter due to the Syrian civil war. Syria has been under American sanctions since the 1970s.
The European Union began to impose sanctions starting in 2011 as Syria’s civil war broke out, and it has escalated sanctions in several stages since 2011. The United Nations has imposed a limited number of sanctions related to Syria, generally targeted at the Islamic State group.