2023-07-14 14:58:52
After a Russian veto before the Security Council on the 9-month extension of the cross-border humanitarian aid mechanism for Syria, which has been in civil war for more than 10 years, the country announced that it would authorize the continuation of deliveries from the Turkey.
Damascus “has taken the sovereign decision to authorize the United Nations and its specialized agencies to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing point”, between Turkey and Syria, “in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government for a period six months from July 13,” Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbagh told the press on Friday, who sent a letter to this effect to the Secretary General of the Organization Antonio Guterres and to the Security Council.
“We have just received the letter and we are studying it,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for Antonio Guterres, told AFP.
Pressures from Moscow
A mechanism created in 2014 allowed the UN to deliver humanitarian aid to populations in rebel areas of northwestern Syria, without authorization from the Syrian government, which regularly denounced a violation of its sovereignty.
Initially, it provided for four crossing points but, following years of pressure, in particular from Moscow, an ally of the Syrian regime, only the post of Bab al-Hawa, between Turkey and Syria, had remained operational and its authorization had been reduced to six months renewable.
But the mechanism expired on Monday, following the Council’s failure to extend it, causing the border post to be closed to UN trucks.
Under Damascus control
“The priority is that aid can get through once more, quickly, to the people who need it – and then secure its future,” British Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who chairs the Security Council in July, said in a statement. .
“But without UN oversight, the control of this vital route is entrusted to the man responsible for the suffering of the Syrian people,” she lamented, noting that the oversight provided for in the UN resolution rejected Tuesday ensured that the aid was not “diverted”.
Assad would try to clear himself
In recent years, Syria’s authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad, had insisted on closing border crossings in order to regain influence in rebel-held parts of the country.
Some Syrian opposition activists, however, doubt the motives of the al-Assad government. “In this way, the Syrian regime is trying to whitewash itself in front of the international community and say: ‘look, we are not blocking aid,'” pointed out Yasser al-Farhan, a Syrian opposition figure and rights defender. .
“We don’t want Syrian humanitarian issues to be held hostage by the Russians,” a group of Syrian opposition lawyers, human rights defenders and politicians said in a petition sent on Friday. .
Fear of a wave of refugees
Obstructing the delivery of adequate humanitarian aid across borders to rebel-held areas would lead to new waves of refugees from northern Syria fleeing to neighboring countries and then to Europe and beyond, they said. they warned.
“The announcement by the al-Assad regime that aid can cross the border for a period of six months is nothing but another ploy to circumvent UN resolutions and pursue its policy to obstruct international efforts to rescue and assist Syrians,” the petitioners write.
Millions deprived of aid
In recent days, millions of needy people in northwestern Syria have been cut off from supplies following Russia vetoed a nine-month extension in the UN Security Council. . A counter-proposal from Moscow, which called for a six-month extension, also failed because it challenged Western sanctions once morest Damascus. Russia is one of the Syrian government’s closest allies.
According to the United Nations, 85% of goods destined for northwestern Syria pass through the Bab al-Hawa border post, which has been closed since Monday evening, and 4.1 million people in this region, women and children for most need help.
After the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey a few months ago, Bashar al-Assad had temporarily opened two other border crossings with Turkey, Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee, which remain open . Bab al-Hawa is however a more important crossing point.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / blg / dpa / afp
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