Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and First Lady Asma al-Assad, arrived, on Saturday, in the city of Latakia, and visited survivors of the earthquake in the Tishreen University Hospital.

They visited Duha Nour Allah and her son Ibrahim Zakaria, who were pulled out from under the rubble, yesterday evening, five days after the earthquake struck, in the city of Jableh.

من زيارة الرئيس بشار الأسد والسيدة أسماء الأسد لمصابي وجرحى الزلزال في مشفى تشرين الجامعي في مدينة اللاذقية. pic.twitter.com/pdT94janQ8

— Syrian Presidency (@Presidency_Sy) February 11, 2023

On Friday, the Syrian President and First Lady also visited survivors at the Aleppo University Hospital.

The Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic published pictures showing the president's visit to the hospital, where he checked on the survivors.

Al-Assad said during his tour, "It is natural for the West to politicize the situation. As for human feelings [in the West], they do not exist, neither now nor did they in the past," adding that the Syrian authorities will use all their capabilities to rebuild the affected areas and help the afflicted in them.

Al-Assad also met with the head of the Iraqi relief delegation and Chief of Staff of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abdul-Aziz al-Muhammadawi (Abu Fadak), while inspecting the damage caused by the earthquake in the city of Aleppo.

During the meeting, Abu Fadak offered his condolences to the President and the Syrian people and expressed solidarity with Iraq's neighboring nation.

In his turn, al-Assad said to al-Muhammadawi, "You sacrificed blood with us, so it is not surprising that you provide us with aid."

Read more: Turkey-Syria earthquake search operations underway, toll exceeds 21K

Due to the current logistical difficulties following the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, and following international outcry, the US has decided to issue a six-month sanctions exemption on Syria for all disaster relief-related transactions, but Syria has dismissed the US' sanctions waiver as "misleading".

“The misleading decision taken by the US administration to temporarily ease some of the cruel and unilateral sanctions on the Syrian nation is out of sham and hypocrisy and is no different from previous gestures meant to convey an erroneous humanitarian impression. While the sanctions waiver is proclaimed to allow the flow of humanitarian aid, the realities on the ground prove the opposite,” the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement on Friday.