February 13, 2023

*) Grief, hope in Türkiye and Syria as disaster hits one-week mark The death toll in Türkiye and Syria has climbed to over 33,000, a week after two powerful earthquakes, centred in southeastern Türkiye, struck both countries. Hope remains that more survivors could still be found, after rescuers saved a woman from the rubble in Gaziantep 170 hours into search efforts. Late on Sunday, a young boy and a 62-year-old woman were also rescued in Hatay province. In Türkiye, the death toll has reached 29,605, while the number of deaths in Syria reached 3,574, according to the latest figures. *) UN admits aid failure for Syria as quake death toll soars The United Nations has decried the failure to ship desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria, while warning the death toll from last week's earthquake is set to rise far higher. A 10-truck UN convoy carrying supplies crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, but the agency's relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Sunday much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed. Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al Assad, which remains under Western sanctions. *) Russia continues to shell Ukraine amid grinding push in east Russian forces continued to shell Ukrainian cities amid a grinding push to seize more land in the east of the country, but Ukrainian officials say that Moscow is having trouble launching its expected large-scale offensive there. The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group earlier said that his forces are facing fierce resistance around Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donetsk region. Yevgeny Prigozhin said that it could take two years for Moscow to control the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, whose capture Moscow has stated as a key goal of the war. *) Israel set to legalise nine settlements in occupied