China calls on US to lift all sanctions against Syria

"The US government should immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria instead of engaging in a political show about so-called temporary relief," Wang told a briefing, Sputnik reported.

The spokesman noted that "the US has for years engaged in military intervention and imposed illegal unilateral sanctions against Syria," seriously exacerbating the crisis in the Syrian economy and people's well-being, and greatly weakening the Syrian government's disaster response capacity.

Following the earthquakes, US sanctions directly prevented the victims from receiving assistance in the first 72 hours, according to the spokesman.

On February 10, the US Treasury said it would provide several months of sanctions relief for Syria in order to allow certain transactions for recovery efforts after it was hit by devastating earthquakes. UN World Food Program Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer said that some sanctions against Syria must be lifted so that the humanitarian community can deliver medicines and fertilizers to the country.

On February 6, parts of Turkiye and Syria were hit by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks that killed nearly 40,000 people, most of them in Turkiye, destroying thousands of homes.

MP/PR