Syrians in devastated Idlib left to fend for themselves as UN aid trickles in

Earthquake survivors in opposition northwestern Syria, gutted from years of regime bombing, have been left to fend for themselves days after powerful earthquakes in southern Turkey and devastated the region with frustrations over the UN's slow pace to respond.

Aid began to trickle into Syria’s rebel-held areas on Friday through Bab al-Hawa, the only open border crossing sanctioned by the UN. Yet the six lorries that entered the province, were far short of what Idlib needs to cope with probably its biggest humanitarian crisis during 12 years of war.

Elham Saeed, a lawyer from Aleppo who fled to Termanin in rebel-held Idlib during the war, said that survivors have had to pitch in with the rescue efforts while struggling to find basic necessities themselves.

"[Survivors] are helping with anything they can do, to help as much as they can," she told The New Arab.

Saeed, who lost relatives in the earthquake, said that without proper infrastructure on the ground, rescuing survivors in the rubble, and feeding and housing those in need, is an almost impossible task.

"We're offering condolences to whole families," she said. Despite aid arriving on Friday, Saeed said that people in her village had been given no indication of when help would reach them.

With many buildings damaged, rents are high and survivors are left with little choice. Saeed remains in her earthquake-damaged home, awaiting an inspection to assess the safety of her property.

'Unacceptable'

On Friday, a convoy of 14 UN lorries arrived in rebel-held Idlib from Turkey, as the death toll in Syria reached 3,500 and thousands remain buried beneath the rubble.

The convoy contained hygiene kits, blankets, solar lamps, and tents, however, pressure has mounted on the UN to provide more meaningful aid and much more of it.

Syria's regime has long insisted that all aid should enter through areas under its control, while its major ally Russia has wielded its UN Security Council veto power to keep all but one crossing into Syria closed.

The opposition has pointed out the regime's weaponisation of food and aid throughout the war, along with its sustained bombing of opposition towns and villages, contributing heavily to the 500,000 killed since the start of the uprising in 2011.

Legal experts have said that all borders should be opened to aid to help the thousands suffering from the natural disaster.

"Eminent international judges, former judges of the International Court of Justice and ICC, leading Professors and specialists: UNSC not needed for cross border aid into Syria," tweeted Ibrahim Olabi of Guernica 37 Chambers.

"Been in the works for months, bit now children are under the rubble."

The system has ensured that regime-held areas have received the vast majority of aid deliveries, while areas like Idlib - destroyed by years of bombing - are under siege.

"Until now no aid has arrived to north-west Syria from the UN as a response to the earthquake," Raad Salah, head of the White Helmets rescue group, was quoted by The Guardian as saying. 

"There is no coordination with the United Nations to understand the reality and assess what are the basic issues that we face. The United Nations does not have any plan even for response, and this is a clear bias in humanitarian work and something unacceptable. It is a clear violation of the most important principle of the organisation of respecting the right to life of human beings."