Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the news focus on the devastation and response to the earthquake in Turkey. But in Syria, coverage has been more complicated, because when the quake hit, the country was in its twelfth year of a long, drawn-out civil war. It took four days for the United Nations to reach parts of Syria, leaving many Syrians feeling abandoned. International organizations, like the UN, have said this is in part because the hardest hit areas are located both in regions controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and in the Northwest, where rebel groups hold power. In the aftermath, the rebel-held areas have struggled most for support. This week Brooke speaks with Natasha Hall, a senior fellow at the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the ways politics have played into the delay of aid.