March 1—Over 50,000 human lives have been lost already in the last three weeks from the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria. Food, clean drinking water, medicine, protection from the elements—such things become the over-riding reality. Yet, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price explained a different reality: “We think it’s important still that countries remember that this humanitarian plight, this humanitarian emergency, long predates the earthquake from earlier this year. The humanitarian emergency that the Syrian people have faced for more than a decade now is largely a manmade one … owing to the actions of the Assad regime, the brutality that the regime has inflicted on its people.” Therefore, “it’s important that the Assad regime’s track record not be forgotten even as we prioritize this humanitarian response.”