Posted in: 09/07/2022 – 15:42Last updated: 09/07/2022 – 15:40
Bab al-Hawa (Syria) (AFP) – Residents of besieged northwestern Syria warned Saturday of a humanitarian “catastrophe”, a day following Russia vetoed the UN Security Council once morest extending the mechanism for delivering vital humanitarian aid to them.
Russia vetoed Friday during the UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution to extend the mechanism for the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria without Damascus’ consent for one year, and Moscow only accepted a six-month extension.
Mazen Alloush, director of the public relations office at the Bab al-Hawa crossing (northwest), said in a statement to AFP that “the use of the veto by Russia is a literal application of the policy of siege and starvation practiced by Russia in all Syrian regions.”
“The failure to take any decision or actual measure to bring humanitarian aid across the border is a prelude to an uncontrollable famine and a direct threat to the food security of more than four million citizens” living in northwest Syria, he said.
The mechanism will expire on Sunday, while the residents of Idlib governorate, which includes the majority of displaced people from the rest of Syria and who live in extreme poverty, are increasingly concerned.
“Everyone knows that most of the camp residents are completely dependent on this aid,” said Abdel Salam Youssef.
This displaced person from southern Idlib added that the Russian veto constituted a “major catastrophe for me.”
“If the Bab al-Hawa crossing is closed and relief (supplies) cut off, we will die,” said Fatim, a 45-year-old displaced woman and mother of fourteen children. “They destroyed our homes and made us homeless,” she said.
The UN mechanism has been in force since 2014, and allows the transfer of aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border for more than 2.4 million people in the Idlib region (northwest), which is under the control of jihadist and opposition groups.
More than 4,600 aid trucks crossed the border this year alone, most of which carried food items, according to data from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only one through which aid can be transferred to the areas controlled by the fighting factions in Idlib (northwest) and its environs, without passing through the areas controlled by the Syrian government. It has been used by the United Nations since 2014.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said that the crossing was closed on Saturday on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
“I hope the Security Council will meet once more soon and agree to move forward,” Mark Cutts, deputy UN regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told AFP on Saturday.
The delivery of aid is urgent, with humanitarian needs in Syria reaching their highest levels since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, which killed nearly half a million people and led to the displacement and displacement of more than half of the population inside and outside the country.
About 13.4 million people across Syria needed assistance during 2021, compared to 11.1 million in 2020, according to the United Nations.
© 2022 AFP