US-EU sanctions on Syria. Humanitarian aid has not reached Syria after the earthquake due to Western sanctions – a complaint that has been heard a lot on social media recently. How true is the allegation?

Recently, a TikTok video of a Syrian student asking for humanitarian aid went viral. In the video, he showed a graphic of air traffic, which shows planes landing around Syria but no planes landing in Syria. More such videos are circulating on social media and a hashtag is also spreading in them, that is #StopSanctionsOnSyria or lift the sanctions on Syria.

However, Europe has claimed that the ban has had no impact on humanitarian aid. “I categorically reject this allegation that the embargo has no impact on humanitarian aid,” EU crisis management commissioner Yanes Lenarcich said.

After the start of the Arab Spring in Syria in 2011, the country’s President Bashar al-Assad tried to stop the anti-government movement with a strong hand. This led to a civil war in the Middle Eastern country. The United States and the European Union have already demanded Assad’s resignation. Instead of resigning, Syria has come under Western sanctions for its crackdown on Arab Spring protesters.

The German Foreign Office has also given their response in this regard. “Please do not fall into the trap of those who are spreading such statements trying to serve their own interests in such a difficult time,” said an official of the department at the press conference.

But news agency AFP reported that little aid had arrived in opposition-held areas two weeks after the quake. There is anger among people in those areas that humanitarian aid has taken so long to arrive. Recently a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. 44000 people died in both countries. 3,600 of them are from Syria.