Rescue and recovery efforts in northern Syria, devastated by the same Feb. 5 earthquake that also struck wide areas of southern Turkey, are facing great difficulties as a result of the 12 years of war and brutal economic sanctions imposed on the country by the US and its European allies. Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued an appeal to UN member states and to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations to help the efforts of the Syrian government face this human catastrophe, and quickly, so that the government can rescue those who are still trapped under debris.
The Biden Administration has responded to Syria’s appeal by declaring that it will not work with the Syrian government, which has been the target of a US regime-change policy since the Obama Administration. Instead, the US will only work with “U.S.-supported humanitarian partners.” State Department spokesman Ned Price cynically lied to reporters about why. “I will make the point that it would be quite ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people over the course of a dozen years now – gassing them, slaughtering them, being responsible for much of the suffering that they have endured.”
https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-february-6-2023/
Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen news service reported that while several Western countries mobilized rapidly to send aid and rescue workers to Turkey, they have decided to exclude Syria and neglect it, offering only condolences and expressing their readiness to support the affected Syrians, in what al Mayadeen called “a clear act of hypocrisy and double standards.”
