Government tensions combined with the limited flow of foreign aid into Syria have greatly stalled recovery and reconstruction efforts to a war-stricken and impoverished nation. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by a series of additional aftershocks that devastated Turkey and Syria Feb. 6 exacerbated the already high humanitarian needs in Syria. 

The earthquakes killed an estimated 6,000 Syrians and destroyed 1,900 buildings causing $5.1 billion in direct physical damages. More than 30,000 people were displaced in the northwest region of Syria between Feb. 6-8. 

Three days after the earthquakes, The World Bank announced disaster funding of $1.78 billion USD to aid relief and recovery initiatives. Millions of dollars in aid has flooded into Turkey. However, due to the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, efforts to deliver aid into Syria — especially, the affected, rebel-controlled northwestern parts — has proven complicated.

The civil war has broadly divided Syria into three sectors: the Kurdish sector, which is backed by the U.S.; Bashar al-Assad’s government; and the opposition, led by Islamic fundamentalist militias. The U.S. originally supported the opposition during the civil war in hopes of driving al-Assad out of power.

“The Syrian opposition that we were supporting evolved into these very radical, fundamentalist Islamic militias. America began to think they shouldn’t be supporting them and got spooked by their own allies,” expert on Middle Eastern studies Professor Joshua Landis said. “Assad has traditionally been a client of Russia. America allowed Russia to come into Damascus. The U.S. didn’t give the opposition advanced weaponry because they were frightened that the Syrian army would collapse and Islamist groups would take over.”

In lieu of direct military support, the U.S. imposed stringent sanctions on Syria, which prohibited the West from directly or indirectly aiding the corrupt Syrian government. Due to the humanitarian crisis after the earthquake, the U.S. has officially lifted these sanctions for the next four months. However, these guidelines remain vague and will deter many would-be donors. The U.S. government has lifted sanctions for relief, but not for reconstruction. When a vast quantity of infrastructure has been destroyed by the earthquake, it is difficult to distinguish between relief aid and rebuilding. 

The U.S. government claims they do not want to bolster Assad’s campaign and that the sanctions were imposed to oppose his government, yet they have imposed little to no sanctions on other theocratic dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia, whose humanitarian records are equally appalling. In reality, the sanctions are in place because Syria is a client state of Russia, one of the U.S.’s most vehement and long-standing political enemies, despite the U.S. government’s pretense that it is sincerely concerned about the humanitarian crises in Syria.

The U.S. stopped all SWIFT code from entering Syria, meaning that banks cannot be used to wire money to the country. Furthermore, online sites like GoFundMe that fundraise money have been wrongly disabled in Syria. People are unable to wire money to their family members, friends and loved ones, many of whom have continually faced inconceivable loss and extreme poverty for years. 

Hence, the U.S. is mostly providing aid through non-governmental organizations, which have limited resources. This aid is not nearly enough to accommodate the needs of Syrian relief efforts. 

The Syrian government has demanded that foreign aid must be sent through the official internal channels. While the U.S. government rightly fears that Assad will only send the provided humanitarian aid to those living under his control and neglect affected populations in opposition held pockets, the aid will still go to a destitute population in great need of humanitarian assistance. 

The U.S. government must put aside political conflicts and work with Assad’s government and provide additional aid through NGOs in a common effort to aid relief efforts.  If the U.S., an influential global superpower, provides relief aid to Syria, European nations will be far more likely to follow suit.