On a new defence agreement. The aukus pact aims to counter chinas perceived threat in the indo pacific. Its expected to agree the supply of Nuclear Powered submarines to australia. Youre watching bbc news. Now its time for fault line the un and the quake in syria. Screaming the earthquake strikes. Un aid arrives in turkey immediately, but takes several days to reach North West Syria. Bbc news arabic investigates. Un teams are supposed to deploy within 48 hours of a request. In North West Syria, that didnt happen. What matters in terms of responding to an earthquake is time and what the sort of, the immediacy of the response. And the un just stood there, like, completely paralysed. In this film, we ask, what took the United Nations so long . To deliver humanitarian aid across an international border, we need either the consent of the government or in the case that we have in syria, a Binding Security Council resolution. On monday, the 6th Of February 00. 47am, an earthquake of magnitude on monday, the 6th Of February 04. 17am, an earthquake of magnitude 7. 8 strikes near gaziantep in southeast turkey. Across the border in syria, strong tremors are felt. Hundreds of buildings collapse. As the hours pass, the scale of the disaster becomes apparent. Rescue teams are overwhelmed. In turkey, a major aid effort gets under way. Rescue teams from around the world rush to help. In syria, the Earthquake Hit several cities controlled by the assad government. It also strikes North West Syria, the last pocket of territory controlled by opposition groups. Buildings here have been weakened by years of conflict. This is only one of the buildings. Sara kasim is a localjournalist whos reported from North West Syria for the past few years. Shes been alongside the rescue team since the first moments of the earthquake. This is just one of the buildings after being completely destroyed. And the Civil Defence members are just trying to save civilians under the rocks. Its quickly clear that this is one of the worst natural disasters of the century. In the government controlled areas of syria, on the day of the disaster, planes carrying aid arrived from iran and algeria. More soon follows from the uae, libya, egypt and iraq. But in northwest syria, theres no airport, no International Rescue teams, and no aid. The un says that in order to save lives, response must begin within the first 72 hours. Its a race against time. Ahmad hajji and his five year old son were lucky enough to be rescued from the rubble. One of his other sons, abdul rahman, is missing, but ahmad believes hes still alive. Coughing its 7th of february 2023. Here we are today in one of the neighbourhoods in the countryside of aleppo because of an earthquake which hit North West Syria yesterday. Still people are working and the white helmets, the Civil Defence members, are working to remove the rocks and to see if there are any victims under. This is one of the buildings. Two days ago, people were living here, but now they are victims of the earthquake. Shouting in turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the nation. The epicentre was turkey. And immediately the president of that member state of the un put out a request saying this is too big for any one country, we need all the International Help we can get. None of that happened in syria. A team from britain is one of the first to arrive. Well, we sent it immediately into the region and 77 uk Search And Rescue experts, together with the top level of equipment and their sniffer dogs arrived in turkey fast. When natural disasters strike, the United Nations plays a vital role in coordinating International Relief efforts. The un carries out Search And Rescue through un dac, its Disaster Assessment and coordination system. The wires start buzzing to make sure that we try and get an Assessment Team very quickly into wherever the problem lies. So we can try and get as quickly as possible the right resource l to the right place. The un also organises Emergency Medical Teams, known as emt, through the World Health Organization. On the 6th Of February, the World Health Organization had put out an emt global alert for the turkey earthquake, and they were calling on emt teams to Self Identify and put themselves forward for consideration for deployment for turkey. The un was quick to respond to turkeys call for help. Across the border in North West Syria, it was a different story. No one could send Search And Rescue teams because northwest syria is not under government control, is not recognised. You cant request intergovernmental help the way the Syrian Government was able to. Was able to, the way that turkey was able to. This is head of the volunteer syrian Civil Defence group known as the white helmets. Un dac teams can deploy anywhere in the world within 12 to 48 hours of a request, usually by a government. The un humanitarian coordinator in syria was begging the assad regime to give access. To some in North West Syria, it seemed like no one was listening. During the crucial 72 hour window for rescue, no International Search and rescue or Emergency Medical Teams came to North West Syria. What matters in terms of responding to an earthquake is time and what the sort of like the immediacy of the response. And the un just stood there, like, completely paralysed. I the uns headquarters in new york. Stephane dujarric is spokesman for the un secretary general. The way it works is that a National Government is responsible for asking for help. Right . We have an integrated system where we co ordinate International Rescue teams. But if there are no International Search and rescue teams in an area, one can understand that there is really not much coordination of those teams to be done. According to the website, un dac teams can be deployed anywhere in the world at short notice and im quoting the website, within 12 to 48 hours of a request for assistance from the United Nations resident or humanitarian coordinator or by the affected government. So im trying to understand where. Who is responsible for the delay . There was. I mean, i think were going around. Were going around in circles here. There were a number of teams which were sent to southern turkey. There was one that moved as soon as we got the visas into syria, into aleppo. We go where were able to go, we go where there is. For the coordination, where there is International Aid to be coordinated. Its day three. The death toll in syria now exceeds 2,500, with nearly 11 million affected by the earthquake. Four million syrians depend on aid agencies for survival. But the Border Crossing, the only entry point for un aid to North West Syria is reportedly blocked and unusable. It took three days for the turkish authorities to reopen the Border Crossing because, as you well know, this Earthquake Hit not only, of course, millions of people, but it impacted the humanitarian operation itself, the humanitarian infrastructure that was in place. However, others maintain that the Bab Al Hawa Crossing remained open. So one thing you said earlier was that turkey took three days to open up the border. Can you just elaborate on that . Well, i mean, lets give. Lets understand the situation. Southern turkey was hit by a devastating earthquake, right . Tens of thousands of people died. Roads were blocked. I mean, its not a matter of blame. Its a matter of fact. It took it took time to clear the roads. It took time for people, for humanitarian workers, whether turkish workers, international workers, or others who were there to actually bring themselves back to a working state. When they had to deal with their own families, they had to deal with their own houses having been collapsed. Sarah was at bab al hawa. She witnessed the tragic consequences of the earthquake. The cross border operation followed the uns failure to agree with the Syrian Government on how to get aid to the rebel held territories. In 2014, the un Security Council authorised aid to be delivered through four Border Crossings. However, in 2020, russia used its veto to reduce the number of crossings from four to just one at bab al hawa. Karsten weiland is a former political consultant for the un. He studied how the Syrian Regime has politcised humanitarian aid. So, we have a debate in the Security Council every six months, again to discuss the conditions under which the un is allowed to deliver cross border aid into syria. And thats the occasion where the russian side imposes new conditions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Valerie amos is a former head of the uns office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. I and others have been deeply frustrated about the lack of movement sometimes by the Security Council over many, many years and decades. We have seen the way that countries have used humanitarian aid as a proxy for a conflict that theyre having in a particular country. This should not happen. This should be about people in need. It is supposed to be delivered in a neutral and impartial manner, principled humanitarian aid that is, and not as a condition. You can deliver more humanitarian aid, and in turn, Bashar Al Assad gets more recovery or reconstruction. And so that is trading unequal things. You trade. You start trading humanitarian aid, which is supposed to be unconditional with things that are not humanitarian. And this is taking place every six months. The un says that like any other organisation, it has to operate within a framework, its charter. The United Nations is made up of 193 states who guard their sovereignty jealously. The secretariat had the authority from the Security Council to deliver aid cross border. We did. We appealed for more Border Crossings. In the end, the Syrian Government gave the permission to use two more crossings. We used that opportunity as quickly as we could. Weve delivered about 500 trucks� worth of aid now since the beginning of the quake. Four days after the earthquake, the death toll is still rising and is now 17,000 in total. In North West Syria, many hospitals are now too badly damaged to operate. Time is running out for the rescuers, but still survivors are being found. Earthquake aid has yet to reach the opposition held area, where conditions are now worse than any seen during 12 years of war. Earthquake aid has yet to reach the opposition held area, where conditions are now worse than any seen during 12 years of war. At last, five days after the quake, a convoy of 14 un aid lorries arrives at bab al hawa. But even then, it wasnt the urgently needed Search And Rescue equipment. Im here at the Bab Al Hawa Crossing point. Two days later, martin griffiths, the uns head of emergency relief, makes an extraordinary admission. Writing on twitter, he says the un has so far failed the people of North West Syria. They rightly feel abandoned, looking for International Help that hasnt arrived. Eminent lawyers, professors, retired judges of the International Court ofjustice, and former un legal officials, theyve all agreed that, under International Law, the un doesnt need the consent of the Syrian Government or even a Security Council resolution to deliver cross border aid. For us, it is clear, its been our long standing position from the secretary. From the secretariat, that in order to deliver humanitarian aid across an international border, we need either the consent of the government, or in the case that we have in syria, a Binding Security Council resolution. Are you saying that what theyre saying essentially is wrong . What im saying to you is that, you know, we can have academic discussions for weeks, months, and years about International Law. There are thousands and thousands of International Law experts, all im sure many very imminent. Our position is that it has not delayed our work. But in that instant, what was delayed was earthquake related aid equipment. No . And thats what they needed and thats what they didnt get based on the un stance and their interpretation of the law. To blame the law for any hampering of delivery of humanitarian aid from our position is wrong. We operate within a given mandate, and thats the charter of the United Nations, International Law. The United Nations is made up of 193 states who guard their sovereignty jealously. Its now three weeks after the earthquake. Omar hadji and his son abdel rahman were finally reunited. The devastation has stripped omar� s family of everything theyd worked so hard to keep during the years of war. Omar hadji and abdel rahman are left with the daunting task of starting yet again from scratch. Michael walsh, the emergency aid adviser, thinks that if the International Community doesnt learn from the crisis in North West Syria, it will only happen again. The key issue here is that we knew there was going to be a North West Syria years ago when we started talking about the need for a process of deploying Emergency Medical Teams into active conflicts and complex humanitarian emergencies. There has been a North West Syria case. There will be another North West Syria case. We have to learn the lessons that we see on the ground today in North West Syria and find a solution to this problem. Hello there. Its a much milder day today, thanks to south westerly winds. Those winds have brought a big jump in temperatures. Yesterday, for example, just three degrees in balmoral. And for most of us, it was a cold day. Today, temperatures widely into double figures, but thats set in place a rapid thaw. Indeed, theres a lot of places that had snow yesterday where the snow is completely melted away, but its still hanging on across northern scotland. We do have some colder air thats going to hang around here for much of the week ahead with some snow in the forecast as well. Now, overnight tonight, outbreaks of rain will push northwards across the country. Its going to be quite a windy night and very mild temperatures, double figures for most. But notice the colder air hanging around in northern scotland, where were looking at some frost. Tomorrow, the area of low pressure still with us, bringing a windy spell of weather. The winds coming in from a south westerly direction. The rain easing to blustery showers, but with Gale Force Gusts of wind quite widely across england, wales, that could be Strong Enough to bring down one or two tree branches. Now, temperatures with those South Westers still on the mild side, 10 to 13 degrees, england and wales, about eight for Northern Ireland. But notice colder air sinking southwards again in scotland. And indeed we are going to see some further hill snow here with some significant accumulations above 200 metres elevation. Some of the high hills could see 5 to 10 centimetres. And then as we go through monday night, the cold air moves southwards. We see a risk of a few centimetres of snow over the hills of Northern Ireland, Northern England and wales as well, leaving a legacy of icy conditions into tuesday as this colder air dives southwards across the uk. So, tuesday will be a really cold day compared to the last couple. Plenty of sunshine around, a few wintry showers across North Western areas. Some accumulating snow again in the hills of northern scotland. But the temperatures is what youll notice. Were not looking at double figure temperatures. Instead, two to seven degrees, but feeling colder than that in those brisk winds. Wednesday, a cold, frosty start again. There should be some sunshine, a few snow showers for northern scotland, but then a band of Rain Moves In Off The Atlantic and you might see a spell of hill snow here working across Northern Ireland and potentially through wednesday night and into thursday. Hill snow for a time across Northern England and scotland, although impacts may be limited because it will eventually turn milder and any hill snow will eventually turn back to rain as milder air works in. This is bbc news. Welcome if youre watching here in the uk or around the globe. Our top stories. Presenters refuse to appear on more bbc sport shows in solidarity with gary lineker after he criticised the uk government over its asylum bill. Lineker himself, who was ordered to step back from his duties by the bbc this week, remains tight lipped about his future. Have you spoken to tim davie yet, mr lineker . Im going to walk my dog and im going to do my shopping, so would you mind letting me do it on my own . 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