Lebanon affirms solidarity with Türkiye amid quake disaster

By Mustafa Deveci and Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) – Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib expressed his country's solidarity with Türkiye after the massive Feb. 6 earthquakes, which have claimed the lives of more than 43,500 people.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in between 10 hours.

Bouhabib stated that he is paying a visit to Türkiye alongside Lebanese Minister of Public Affairs and Transport Ali Hamie, expressing their condolences due to the disaster caused by the earthquakes.

"We are here to pay condolences. It's a sad occasion, but we are happy to be in Türkiye because we feel that Türkiye is a friendly country and an ally of Lebanon," Bouhabib told Anadolu.

Bouhabib stated that they met with a number of Turkish officials, especially Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the capital Ankara.

Speaking about the Lebanese support for Lebanon, the top diplomat stressed that despite the "very limited resources" in his country, they extended their hand of help by sending rescue and search teams.

At least 120 Lebanese personnel came to Türkiye and carried out their rescue and search work for ten days.

Among the Lebanese team, there were 10 people who had previously received search and rescue training in Türkiye.

"Ten of them were trained and they volunteered to come … and I think they were proud that they came back to help," he said.

He went on to stress that despite the different political views, "the whole Lebanese people were, wholeheartedly feeling with Türkiye in this sad time."

The Lebanese people showed solidarity and launched popular donation campaigns for those affected by the earthquakes, according to Bouhabib.

Although the earthquake catastrophe is "big and sad," Bouhabib said, he was "sure that Türkiye would overcome it."

Regarding the bilateral relations, Bouhabib said that Lebanon and Türkiye are two friendly countries with a common history and that they are working on developing mutual relations to make them as strong as possible.

He noted that there are constant talks between officials from both countries and Türkiye help Lebanese ministries, especially "after the downfall of the economy."

"We have excellent relations between Türkiye and Lebanon," he added.