The UK will send a team of search and rescue specialists, equipment and dogs to earthquake-stricken Turkey while the UK-funded White Helmets group will provide assistance in Syria, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement on Monday.

"The UK is sending immediate support to Turkey including a team of 76 search and rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. In Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets have mobilized their resources to respond," he said. "We stand ready to provide further support as needed."

After a devastating earthquake hit Syria and Turkey, killing thousands of people, the US State Department showed no interest in lifting crippling economic sanctions on Syria that are specifically designed to prevent the country’s reconstruction.

Syrians suffering through years of war, displacement, and brutal weather are now facing the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed hundreds of people.

Millions of people in northwest Syria have been left vulnerable by 12 years of conflict, according to the United Nations, which says 2.9 million people in the region have been displaced and 1.8 million are living in camps.

US Central Command announced last week that it was involved in 43 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in the month of January. Task & Purpose reported the monthly average for US operations against ISIS in 2022 was 26 per month, signaling that the US military is stepping up its assaults against the terror group.

A grief-stricken father has been pictured holding the hand of his 15-year-old daughter who was crushed to death beneath the rubble of a building in Turkey, which along with Syria has been rocked by a catastrophic earthquake disaster.  

Rescuers in Turkey and Syria braved freezing darkness, aftershocks and collapsing buildings Tuesday, as they dug for survivors buried by a string of earthquakes that killed at least 5,000 people.

Disaster agencies said several thousand buildings were flattened in cities across a vast border region -- pouring misery on an area already plagued by war, insurgency, refugee crises and a recent cholera outbreak.