A leader of a Turkey-backed Syrian faction stole 28 tents intended for earthquake survivors in the northwestern Syrian city of Afrin, North Press reported.
Rivalry between groups controlling areas in the country’s earthquake-hit northwest exacerbates the suffering of people coping both with the devastation of the recent tremors along with the destruction of 20 years of war.
While the delivery of international humanitarian aid to survivors has ramped up as of Monday, after the opening of two border crossings between Turkey and Syria, the distribution of the vital supplies is still hampered due to the complicated situation in the country.
While the Syrian government in Damascus is accused of sending aid to loyalist areas in the north, rebel factions controlling territories in the northwest of the country reportedly block aid provided by the Kurdish-controlled administration in the northeast.
The leader of the Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh faction, which is a part of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), stole tents intended for earthquake affected villages around Jinderes in Kurdish-populated Afrin, a local source told the agency. According to the source, the faction is selling the tents it seized for a price between $200 to $300.
Jinderes was heavily destroyed by the twin earthquakes centred in Turkey. The disaster left 513 people dead, 831 others injured, while collapsing or heavily damaging 200 buildings.
Robberies have also escalated in Afrin as a result of the disaster. To protect belongings, residents set up their tents near damaged buildings, which creates further safety risks as the region continues to be jolted by aftershocks and fresh quakes.
Meanwhile locals also report that SNA factions are setting up tents for its members in the Afrin countryside. According to local reports, those factions felled 300 trees to build a tent city in the region on Monday.
Thousands of threes have been cut in Afrin, a city famous for olive production, since it was captured by Ankara-backed rebels in 2018.
The autonomous administration in the northeast has been trying to reach out to the Kurdish survivors in other parts of the country despite severe obstacles.
Two weeks after the tremor some nine convoys carrying humanitarian aid reached two Kurdish populated neighbourhoods in Aleppo, North Press reported. The Relief Committee of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent pledged to allow 21 convoys of aid to the two neighbourhoods as soon as possible, a source told the agency.
