Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government sends humanitarian aid to quake victims in Afrin

By Anadolu Agency Staff

AZEZ/AFRIN, Syria (AA) - Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) sent 14 humanitarian aid trucks Friday to victims in the Afrin district of Syria after the region was devastated by two powerful earthquakes earlier this week.

The trucks carrying first aid, food, clothes and tents entered the Babusselam Border Gate in Azez through the Oncupinar Border Gate late Friday in Türkiye’s southern Kilis province.

The trucks reached the town of Jinderes in Afrin which was hit by the earthquakes.

The head of the Syrian interim government, Abdurahman Mustafa, thanked the administration for the help in a Twitter post.

More than 700 people were killed and hundreds injured by the earthquakes in Jinderes, where hundreds of buildings collapsed, according to civil defense and local council sources.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing in the town.

The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes, the epicenter of which was Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, killed at least 3,400 and injured 5,245 in various provinces of Syria.

The numbers have soared to at least 20, 318 killed with more than 80,000 injured by the strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Monday.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.