UN dispatches aid through Türkiye to quake-hit NW Syria

ANKARA, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations' first convoy of aid crossed from Türkiye to Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Thursday, three days after the devastating earthquake, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.

Six truckloads of aid entered the Bab al-Hawa border crossing through the Cilvegozu border gate in Türkiye's southern Hatay province, the news agency reported.

Bab al-Hawa is currently the only crossing through which the UN aid is allowed to go into the area.

Ankara is working to open two more border gates with Syria to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid to its neighbor which also suffers from massive earthquakes, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

"Cilvegozu border gate is open. We are working to open two more gates ... We also provide the necessary support for the aid to reach Syria," Cavusoglu told reporters.

A magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye's southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT), followed by a magnitude-7.6 quake at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in the same province on Monday.

The death toll from the massive earthquakes in southern Türkiye and northern Syria has surpassed 17,000.