France not to change Syria policy, despite devastating earthquake
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France's aid to Syria will only pass through NGOs and UN mechanisms.
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French Foreign Ministry in Paris
France will maintain its policy toward the Syrian government and will not provide Damascus with relief aid following the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey.
Monday's massive earthquake flattened entire sections of major cities in Turkey and Syria, killing more than 20,000 people in both countries according to the latest estimates.
The earthquake has so far left over 3,500 Syrians dead and thousands of others injured, in addition to leveling down thousands of homes, leaving civilians in the cold weather with no shelter, while the government, due to Western unilateral sanctions and blockade, is unable to fully respond to the crisis and offer disaster relief to its nation.
Read more: Western selective humanitarianism, Syria earthquake falls on deaf ears
"Our political approach is not changing and contrary to Bashar al-Assad we are working in favour of the Syrian population," French Deputy Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Francois Delmas stated in a press conference.
"Only a political process defined by United Nations Security Council 2254 can lead to an exit of the crisis," in reference to providing aid to non-governmental organizations, notoriously known to have implemented the Western agenda to destabilize Syria and promote the narrative of the West-backed terrorist proxies.
Read more: NYT makes U-turn after saying Syria can't receive aid due to sanctions
"Our aid for Syria will go through the United Nations mechanism and NGOs that directly benefit populations," Delmas added, claiming that France allocated emergency aid of 12 million euros for all Syrian regions, including areas under government control.
The US and the EU, along with international organizations they currently have control over, are only discussing aid through the cross-border route between Turkey and Syria which leads to Idlib controlled by the HTS group.
Exclusive: Syrian government sending aid to armed-groups-held areas
In these defining moments and amid this humanitarian catastrophe, it was expected that all political rifts and rivalries would be brought aside for a short while at least, mainly because the destructive event has directly affected civilians.
The international community, along with its organizations and institutions, should have declared a moment of "silence" to help facilitate access to basic needs and supplies by all countries impacted by this event in order to help them respond to their citizens' dire need of help, however, this was not the case.
Humanitarian aid: discriminating between one side of the border and the other
The Syrian Ambassador to Russia, Bashar al-Jaafari, said on Thursday the earthquake crisis has exposed the shortcomings of Western societies, policies, and governments, not only toward Syria but toward the whole world.
In a statement for Sputnik, al-Jaafari said countries imposing sanctions on Syria are the same ones that discriminate between one side of the border and the other in the humanitarian sector.
The Syrian diplomat considered that there is no doubt that there is a high degree of politicization on the part of countries that call themselves donors or countries that provide humanitarian aid, pointing out that this crisis exposed those who were ranting about the issue of economic sanctions imposed on Syria.
UN urges no 'politicization' of aid to Syria
Earlier, the United Nations stressed the need to avoid the "politicization" of aid to earthquake victims in Syria and urged Washington and Brussels to ensure there were "no impediments".
"Emergency response must not be politicized," Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told reporters in Geneva, saying aid is needed to get to state-controlled areas, as well as those controlled by militants.
