A United Nations official told CNN on Wednesday that the road leading to the only humanitarian aid border crossing between Turkey and Syria is now open after being damaged by Monday’s earthquake.
Muhannad Hadi, the UN’s regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said aid should start flowing by Thursday, but his team is still figuring out how to get trucks from Syria to Turkey.
The Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only UN-approved humanitarian aid corridor between Syria and Turkey.
Hadi also stated that the UN is collaborating with its Damascus partners to establish “cross-line” activity, referring to the movement of aid from government-controlled areas of the country to areas in northwest Syria that are not under government control.
He urged all member countries to “put the people first,” but stopped short of saying sanctions should be lifted. In the aftermath of the crisis, the Syrian government has called on the United States and the European Union to lift sanctions.
“This earthquake, on top of this crisis, it’s like the perfect storm that no one could have wished for,” Hadi said.