The Takeaway: Syria's neglected northwest pleads for earthquake aid
Plus, a roundup of Al-Monitor's on-the-ground coverage of the devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey.
WASHINGTON — Earthquake survivors who gathered at the Syrian-Turkish border on Wednesday to protest a lack of international support watched as body bags arrived, but no aid.
“The only thing coming from Turkey are the bodies of martyrs,” Syrian journalist Mustafa Dahnon said in a video filmed from the crossing.
Behind him were the bodies of dozens of Syrians, including refugees who fled the country’s civil war only to die in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria early Monday. As of publication, the combined death toll had climbed past the 12,000 mark.
The bodies, many of which were covered in bright blue tarp, were repatriated through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. The United Nations and its partners use that same corridor to send humanitarian assistance each month to some 2.6 million Syrians living in the country's impoverished northwest.
