Over 200 airplanes carrying humanitarian aid flew to the regime-held parts of Syria since a pair of earthquakes centered in Türkiye on Feb. 6 devastated the region, according to a statement made by an official on Wednesday.
The aid has come mostly from allies of President Bashar Assad's government since the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6-quakes struck the war-torn country and neighboring Turkey, killing more than 45,000 people.
"Until now 213 planes carrying quake aid have landed in Syria", including 92 from the UAE, Suleiman Khalil, an official from Syria's transport ministry, told AFP.
After more than a decade of war, Assad's regime remains a pariah in the West.
But the earthquake that killed more than 3,600 people in Syria has sparked Arab outreach to his internationally isolated government, which was expelled from the Arab League after the conflict erupted in 2011.
The UAE, the first Gulf country to normalize ties with the Assad regime after a years-long boycott, is largely spearheading regional relief efforts.
Its health minister Abdul Rahman al-Owais went on an official trip Tuesday to Syria's quake-hit coast, which is under regime control, and told reporters he wished for "a united stance globally to face this huge humanitarian challenge."
The latest flight to land in Damascus was a Norwegian plane carrying 14 tons of Red Cross aid including large tents with stoves, water pumps and water purification equipment.
"Those affected are very vulnerable due to years of war and crisis," said Joergen Haldorsen of the Norwegian Red Cross.
Damascus also made an official plea to the European Union for help two days after the deadly earthquake struck, with the EU commission encouraging members to respond to the request.
Syria's civil war, which was triggered by the government's suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations, has claimed around 500,000 lives and displaced around half the country's pre-war population.
Even before the earthquake, most of the population was in need of humanitarian assistance. The latest disaster has only piled on more misery.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was taking advantage of a temporary easing of sanctions against Syria designed to allow humanitarian aid to be more easily distributed in the war-torn country after deadly earthquakes.
"WHO is moving very rapidly right now together with our partners to take advantage of this pause in the sanctions," Rick Brennan, Regional Emergency Director of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, told a briefing.
"We have already started ordering equipment and supplies, and we are working with U.N. partners on a collective approach to take advantage of the pause."
