Humanitarian mission made to wait for nearly six hours to enter Al-Bab

The long wait ensued after two mission members, namely Econsave Cash and Carry Supermarket general manager Mas Imran Adam and TV Al Hijrah news producer Nor Hashimah Ismail were disallowed to pass through although nine others, including ATAA Foundation programme director Abdul Aziz Mansour, who is the team's translator and guide, have already passed immigration and passport checks.

Earlier, the team, led by MyCARE Trustee member Dr Mohd Zin Kandar took an hour journey from the hotel in Gaziantep, Turkiye, to the border gate and arrived at about 10.30 am.

Upon entering the immigration checkpoint, all 10 members of the mission and Abdul Aziz underwent passport checks and were assisted by an officer from the Turkiye authority, AFAD (Turkiye Disaster and Management Authority).

However, they were told to wait outside for almost two hours. Soon after, some officers from the inspection office came out and said it was recess time and asked the team members to wait further.

About 30 minutes later, the AFAD officer, carrying some papers with him ordered the team to follow him. However, this was when Mas Imran and Nor Hashimah, have failed to pass through the immigration due to documentation problems.

Nor Hashimah said that it was a nerve-racking experience for her as her cameraman Zamir Zulkifli was previously disallowed to enter the city of A'zaz during the first and second days of the mission in Syria due to passport problems.

"I keep reciting Surah Al-Insyirah and Rabbi Yassir Wala Tu'assir as advised by my husband once, to recite these verses whenever I faced difficulties. Alhamdulillah, despite having to wait for almost six hours, Allah eased our affairs," she told Bernama, one of the media who participated in the mission.

Nor Hashimah, who has served on the TV Al Hijrah since 2011, said that this was the first time she faced such a situation as it was also her first time covering news in a war-torn country. Her previous experiences include covering the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Banten, Indonesia, in 2018.

Meanwhile, Harian Metro journalist Othman Mamat who also participated in the mission said that he had expected the mission would have its challenges.

"Today we are facing difficulties to cross the Turkiye border into Syria and we have indeed anticipated these difficulties because the documentation process for crossing the border in a war-torn country such as Syria is indeed quite difficult, similar to other places experiencing conflict or war.

"However, I hope that all the processes can be completed as we went through the two entry points to Syria from Turkiye, namely A'zaz and Jarabulus, a few days ago," he added.

The team was finally allowed to enter Al-Bab around 4 pm. Previously, the team had to wait for a long time to enter A'zaz but that was comparatively a shorter wait than this one.

Apart from Zamir being disallowed to enter A'zaz previously, the team was once asked to turn back to Gaziantep, Turkiye from Jarabulus by the Turkiye authorities after reaching the ATAA village in Jarabulus to spend the night due to communication problems.

The disruption of the internet, electricity, and water supply during the mission in Syria were parts of the challenges faced by the team.