Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad has asked European countries to send aid following the earthquakes that have claimed many lives.
The foreign on Tuesday told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV that sanctions are no excuse not to respond to emergency.
Syrian officials have long argued that western sanctions have harmed reconstruction efforts in areas where the 12-year conflict has subsided, Reuters report.
The death toll has reached 6,000 with the search for survivors ongoing, according to the Associated Press.
In Türkiye, the defence ministry says the fire at Iskenderun Port on the Mediterranean Sea has been extinguished.
After the earthquake struck on Monday, images and videos showed burning containers and thick black smoke rising overhead.
More than 8,000 people so far have been pulled from the debris in Türkiye, said the Turkish vice-president, Fuat Oktay.
About 380,000 people have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, with others huddling in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres.
Tuesday afternoon, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a disaster zone for the 10 provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, imposing a state of emergency in the region for three months.
Türkiye’s disaster management agency said it had 11,342 reports of collapsed buildings, of which 5,775 had been confirmed. Türkiye’s ministry of transport and infrastructure said that overnight 3,400 people took shelter in trains being used as emergency accommodation.
