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The earthquake in Syria: the Syrian people are suffering - the regime may take advantage of an opportunity Israel today

2023-02-07T14:25:53.526Z


Thousands were killed in the earthquake throughout Syria • but the damage was mainly focused on areas that oppose the regime and are in the hands of the rebels or the Kurds • The humanitarian disaster is being used by the Assad regime to establish its legitimacy and by Russia and Iran to increase their control of the country


For the citizens of northwest Syria, the sight of destruction, destruction and collapsing buildings is nothing new, as they have endured more than 11 years in a state of brutal and unrelenting civil war.

The 4.5 million inhabitants of the region exist under the pressure of a violent struggle between the Assad regime, the Syrian rebels and the Kurdish militias.

The earthquake that struck the northern part of the country added a heavy and large dose of misery to an area that had been hit even before.

The hardest hit areas, the cities of Idlib and Aleppo, suffered visibility during the fighting and the earthquake flattened buildings that were damaged and not well maintained in the first place.

The earthquake in Syria: Russian soldiers in rescue operations in the city of Aleppo

"When the earthquake started, I thought regime army helicopters were dropping barrel bombs again," Ismail Al-Abdullah, a volunteer with the "White Helmets" organization that operates in northern Syria, told the British "Guardian", referring to the brutal and indiscriminate bombing tactics of the Assad regime pilots.

"I hurried to take my son and left the building."



"We are used to digging people out of the rubble, but the situation right now is different. So many people are trapped under the rubble and they will die because we don't have the right equipment to reach everyone. We have nothing left," added the rescuer. 

Ruins in the ancient city of Aleppo in Syria,

The fate of the residents living in areas controlled by the rebels is difficult because they depend on aid from Turkey which is currently in the middle of a humanitarian crisis itself and the Syrians find themselves alone in the campaign.

Authorities in Kurdish-controlled areas find themselves in a much tougher situation, with few allies to help or reliable airports and border crossings to deliver aid through.

But even in the city of Aleppo, where the Assad regime has ruled since capturing it from the rebels in 2016, the future looks far from bright.

While Russia, Iran and a number of other countries have announced that they will send humanitarian aid, the residents of the city of Aleppo, one of the places hardest hit by the earthquake, remain skeptical about the regime's willingness to help.

Rescue of survivors in an area controlled by rebels in Syria, photo: Reuters



"Ten years of bombings and destruction did not make us leave the house, but this earthquake evicted us and we were left with nothing," a resident of Aleppo told the team of the Chinese news agency "Xinhua", one of the few media outlets that were given access to the destroyed city.

Videos of Russian soldiers digging in the ruins of the buildings in Aleppo were distributed by the regime, but Syrian citizens who responded on social networks replied that these were photographs for propaganda purposes.

For the Syrian regime, the unprecedented destruction in the north of the country can be used as a tool to gain legitimacy, especially in the Arab and Muslim world that is shocked by the harsh scenes, when the affected areas are mainly strongholds of the regime's opponents.

For the Iranians, this is an opportunity to increase their grip and presence in the country.

Iran previously used the military airport of Aleppo in order to transfer weapons to its bases in the country and foreign sources even claimed that Israel attacked the place in order to stop the shipments.

Now Iran will be able to establish itself in the region openly, under the protective umbrella of humanitarian aid.

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2023-02-07

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