Syrian conditions for aid delivery to the rebel-held northwest are ‘unacceptable’

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Beirut –

The United Nations agency responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid has described the conditions placed by the Syrian government on aid shipments from Turkey into northwestern Syria as “unacceptable”.

Future aid deliveries across Syria’s northern border came into question on Tuesday after the UN Security Council was unable to agree on either of two competing proposals to extend the mandate to bring aid from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

Two days later, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations said that Damascus would give the UN voluntary permission to use the crossing for six months, on the condition that the aid be delivered “in full cooperation and coordination with the government”, and that the UN would not allow it. Communication with “terrorist organizations” and their affiliates, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent will conduct relief operations.

In a letter sent to the Security Council on Friday, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said the Syrian proposal called two of those conditions “unacceptable.” Implementation of “initial humanitarian operations”.

The letter states that the ban on communication with groups deemed “terrorist” by the Syrian government will prevent the United Nations and partner organizations distributing aid from engaging “with relevant governmental and non-governmental parties as operationally necessary to carry out safe and unhindered humanitarian operations.” in the letter. .

She said that stipulating that the Red Cross or the Red Crescent should supervise the delivery of aid “is not consistent with the independence of the United Nations nor in practice” because these organizations “do not exist in northwestern Syria.”

The letter also noted that the Syrian government’s request that aid deliveries take place “in full cooperation and coordination” with Damascus requires a “review” and that the aid delivery mechanism must not “infringe on the integrity, impartiality, and independence of the United States’ humanitarian operations for nations.”

FILE – Aid trucks from Saudi Arabia line up at the border crossing from Turkey into Syria in the aftermath of the Syria earthquake February 11, 2023.

The delivery of aid to the rebel-held enclave in the northwest has been a perennial point of contention during the 12-year Syrian uprising that descended into civil war.

Bashar al-Assad’s government and its ally Russia, which is a member of the Security Council, want all aid to pass through Damascus. Assad’s opponents and humanitarian organizations say this could divert aid from vulnerable populations in the northwest.

People living in northwestern Syria “face serious risks” if humanitarian assistance depends on permission from Damascus, said Emma Beals, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute who has studied aid delivery.

“The regime has used denial of aid and attacks on aid workers as a military strategy for twelve years,” she said.

The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan through four crossing points to opposition-held areas of Syria. Over the years, however, Russia, backed by China, has pushed the council to reduce authorized crossings to just one – Bab al-Hawa – and a mandate from one year to six months.

After a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Syria and Turkey in February, Assad opened two additional crossing points from Turkey, at Bab al-Salama and al-Rai, to increase the flow of aid to the victims, later extending their opening until August 3. 13. However, in practice, most of the aid continued to pass through Bab al-Hawa.

A limited amount of UN aid has entered the opposition-held northwest across frontlines from government-held areas.

After the February earthquake, the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham banned aid convoys from entering Idlib province from government-held areas, originally an offshoot of al-Qaeda that controls the area. The group accused Assad of trying to “take advantage of aid intended for earthquake victims”.

In June, apparently in an attempt to persuade Russia to allow an extension of aid delivery through Bab al-Hawa, the group allowed a shipment to cross from a government-held area of ​​Aleppo province into Idlib.

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