JAKARTA - The UK will lift sanctions against Syria, if it is deemed to be hampering aid deliveries to earthquake victims, a country's minister said.
British Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, Commonwealth & Development (FCDO) Andrew Mitchell said Britain could follow in US footsteps in stopping punitive actions aimed at the Bashar Al Assad regime, after the 7.8-SR earthquake that rocked Turkey last Monday also affected Syria.
His comments came ahead of the visit of UN aid chief Martin Griffiths to Syria on Monday.
During an interview at the BBC on Sunday, Mitchell alluded to the possibility of relaxation of sanctions, but insisted "currently we can get what we want and that's the key".
He said Britain's Conservative Government would "do everything we can to ensure aid reaches disaster victims."
Asked if the UK would cancel the sanctions, he said: "Especially here, if sanctions hinder us in any way, we will try to lift them," he was quoted as saying by The National News on February 13.
The death toll across Turkey and Syria from the earthquake has reached at least 34,179 as of Sunday, citing CNN.
In Turkey, the death toll from the earthquake has reached 29,605, Turkey's Center for Emergency Coordination SAKAM said Sunday.
Meanwhile, confirmed death toll in Syria reached 4,574. That number covers more than 3,160 in the northwestern part of opposition-controlled Syria, according to the health ministry of the Government of Safety authorities.
Syria's death toll also included 1,414 deaths in government-controlled Syrian territories, according to state news agency SANA.
The area in Syria that was hit by the earthquake was an area controlled by the government and territory controlled by the rebels.
Meanwhile, Griffiths will visit Aleppo and Damascus on Monday. He told Sky News the needs of people in northwestern Syria, where the quake occurred, were enormous.
Speaking from the Turkish-Syria border where trucks were loaded with UN assistance, he said "we are increasing operations because the needs in northwestern Syria were huge even before this earthquake, especially now."
He said he also asked for authorization from the UN Security Council to open more crossing points at the border "to maximize the volume of supply we provide to people in Syria."
"This is an open and closed case in terms of humanity, why do we need additional crossing points now to save lives and provide some kind of help to people as they enter the post-saving phase," he added.
Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood, a member of the Conservative Parliament and Chairman of the Defense Committee at the House of Commons, have called for more intersection points between Turkey and Syria.
Ellwood said he wanted to see UN Security Council resolutions calling for "full access to allow more border crossings to open, more aid agencies to enter northern Syria, particularly the city of Aleppo."
He said, after the disaster, the British Government should allocate the same amount of aid to affected communities in Syria as in Turkey.
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