Earthquakes in Turkey & Syria

Here's a round-up of Al Jazeera's Middle East coverage this week.

9 February 2023 This Week in the Middle East ­ Earthquakes kill thousands across Syria and Turkey, five dead in an Israeli raid on Jericho, and a woman's murder leads to outrage in Iraq. Here's your round up of our coverage, written by Abubakr Al-Shamahi and Danylo Hawaleshka.   There are few words to adequately describe the heartbreaking scenes that have unfolded across Turkey and Syria this week after two major earthquakes. The first was of magnitude 7.8, and struck on Monday, in the early hours of the morning, as young and old alike slept in their beds. The second was a magnitude 7.6, and happened less than 12 hours later.   Thousands died in places like Antakya, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Diyarbakir, Idlib, Aleppo and Hama. The sheer size of the area affected, hundreds of kilometres apart, reveals the power of what were two of the largest earthquakes by magnitude in the 21st century. Cities across the region are, without any form of exaggeration, devastated, as these before-and-after satellite pictures reveal.  Rescue workers have found it difficult to access some areas after roads became difficult to travel on, and airports were forced to close. The workers who do get through simply don't have the numbers or the equipment to clear every collapsed building, and are forced to make the horrible choice of what pile of rubble to prioritise, listening for the faintest sound, signalling that someone is still alive. Even 50 hours on, people have been rescued, pulled out of the rubble, greeted by tears and cheers of joy from the crowds that have gathered. One, a newborn baby, was still attached by an umbilical cord to her dead mother. But with plummeting temperatures, and time cruelly passing, the hope of finding more survivors is fading fast.   [READ: How to donate to Turkey and Syria earthquake disaster response]   In Turkey, there is growing anger from some at what they see as a slow response by the government, with authorities saying they're doing the best they can given the extreme circumstances. Then there's the question of whether the contractors who built the multi-storey buildings that collapsed had actually followed building codes introduced after previous earthquakes.   In Syria, it has been a further calamity for a people who have faced the horrors of a war that's lasted almost 12 years. The opposition-held northwest is no stranger to demolished buildings, a result of years of bombing by the Syrian government and Russia. But even for people in this often forgotten corner of Syria, the destruction is unprecedented. And the reality in both countries is that, buried under the rubble, there are almost certainly thousands more people who have died, and have yet to be found.    [WATCH: Videos reveal extent of Turkey, Syria earthquake devastation] A Siege & Military Raid in Jericho For a week, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho said that Israeli forces had besieged their town. Then, on Monday, the Israelis conducted a large-scale military raid, targeting what they said were armed men who had conducted a failed attack on a military checkpoint last month. The raid eventually led to five Palestinians being shot dead. The Israelis say they were part of a Hamas cell. Reporting from Jericho days after the raid, Zena Al Tahhan witnessed people still shocked by what they said was the use of excessive force by the Israelis. The raid follows a similar one in the Palestinian city of Jenin that killed 10 people last month, as well as an attack by a Palestinian on Israelis in an occupied East Jerusalem settlement that killed seven. Iraqi Father Murders Daughter  Tiba al-Ali, 22, was a popular YouTuber killed by her father, the Interior Ministry in Iraq announced on Friday. It's been alleged that al-Ali's father strangled her. Women in Iraq are often murdered by male relatives in family disputes. It's been reported that a rights activist has said that al-Ali had "left her family … because she was sexually assaulted by her brother". Amnesty International condemned the killing, saying the "Iraqi penal code still treats leniently so-called 'honour crimes' comprising violent acts such as assault and even murder". A veteran Iraqi politician, Ala Talabani, responded to the murder on social media by writing that "women in our societies are hostage to backward customs due to the absence of legal deterrents and government measures—which currently are not commensurate with the size of domestic violence crimes." Al-Ali's death has led to calls on social media for protests in the capital, Baghdad, on Sunday. Now for Something Different Imagine what it must have felt like for Sammy, a 41-year-old living in Montreal, to find out his brother in France, Laurent, was looking for him, a brother he had no idea he even had. It would turn out that both men, fraternal twins no less, had been born in Lebanon, in 1981, in the middle of a civil war, and had been separated at birth. It seems their birth mother had had an affair with a married man, who refused to take responsibility. And as Federica Marsi reports, it's a scenario that has been all too common in Lebanon for many decades. As one NGO put it, "the ease with which children are separated from their biological families by illegal adoption, in and through Lebanon, is leading to problems that can no longer be ignored". As for Sammy and Laurent, they would eventually meet in France. "I just [ran] over to him," said Sammy, "and we gave each other a big hug."   Briefly UK High Court rules against Bahrain in spyware case | Will Russia and Iran unite their banking systems? | Iran unveils underground airbase | Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in Nablus raid | Iran's supreme leader pardons 'tens of thousands' of prisoners | Spain, Morocco prime ministers meet at Rabat summit  | Israeli delegation visits Sudan to push for normalisation | Al Jazeera has always endeavoured to keep people informed no matter where they are. Now the global news leader is adding TikTok to the mix. Search @aljazeeraontiktok and give us a follow. Like our videos so they land on your 'for you' page. Quote of the Week   "After we lost hope, we were able to take out a family, a husband and wife, and their three children. We cried out of joy after we had cried at how powerless we were." — Syrian rescue worker Samer al-Omar, after a team from the White Helmets rescued a family of five who had been trapped under the rubble of Monday's earthquake for 40 hours.  ­ Looking to better understand one of the world's most misunderstood and complicated regions? Listen to Essential Middle East, with host Sami Zeidan - every Thursday. ­ Subscribe now ­ ­ ­ Follow Al Jazeera English on: ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ This email was sent to sami.bouguila.sami@blogger.com You've received it because you've subscribed to our newsletter. | View in browser | Contact Us | Unsubscribe © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera English, PO Box 23127 Doha - Qatar