ALEPPO, Syria, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- "They (the Americans) must lift the sanctions. Shame on them," an earthquake survivor in Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo said angrily, denouncing U.S. sanctions which have made it extremely difficult for the city and other quake-hit areas in Syria to get much-needed international humanitarian aid.

"We need help, but we can't get it because of the U.S. sanctions," said Aisha al-Hilu, a teacher living in Aleppo. She told Xinhua that her family fled the house without taking any belongings and are in desperate need of food and clothes in the cold and rainy weather.

Aleppo is among the cities hardest hit by Monday's powerful earthquakes, which shook large swaths of land along the Turkish-Syrian border. The media office at the Aleppo governorate headquarters told Xinhua on Tuesday that the quakes have killed at least 364 people, injured 702 others, and toppled 52 buildings in the city.

After the quakes, walking in the old city gives people a sense of familiarity because the scenes of destruction are nothing new in Aleppo. In fact, a large part of the city had already been ruined by brutal battles from 2012 to 2016. The powerful earthquakes, which have killed thousands in Syria and Türkiye, have added more scars to the city's broken torso.

Muhammad Baslat, a civil servant in the city, said while his memory of the war remains vivid and fresh, the earthquakes have exacerbated the anguish of the Syrians.

"The war and its woes are still not far behind us. And those who survived the cruel war now have to struggle to survive this," Baslat said. "The U.S. sanctions are unjustified and unfair and are putting more strains on us at this difficult time."

Aleppo and several other northern Syrian provinces are also places most ravaged by Syria's civil war. The decade-long war and Western sanctions have damaged infrastructure and impoverished millions in northern Syria, making locals more vulnerable to natural disasters.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions are blocking humanitarian work in Syria.

As related equipment is banned by the United States, Syrians are removing the rubble with hands and the simplest tools, the ministry said, adding that Syrians are also banned from needed medicines and medical equipment.

Moreover, Syrians in the quake-hit cities are facing a severe shortage of fuel and gas to keep warm as the winter blizzard keeps battering the disaster zone.

More than 800 people have been killed in Hama, Aleppo, Latakia, Tartous and rebel-held area in Idlib province by Tuesday, said the health ministry. Enditem

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