In north-west Syria, residents on Wednesday worried about the consequences of the failure to renew a cross-border humanitarian aid mechanism vital to the population of a region still beyond Damascus’ control.
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The mechanism allowed the United Nations to send food, water or medicines from Turkey to residents of the north-west of the country, the last region to resist Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The aid was delivered through the Bal al-Hawa border post and without authorization from Damascus, which regularly denounces violations of its sovereignty.
This mechanism, which benefited more than four million people, expired on Monday. And on Tuesday, Russia, a close ally of the Syrian regime, vetoed its nine-month extension at the UN Security Council.
Photo: AFP
At a camp for displaced people near the town of Batabo in the Idleb region, Ghaith al-Shaar, 43, says he is appalled by the political infighting and concerned about the serious consequences the decision could have on his family.
Without the help of the UN, “it’s impossible to get out of it, especially when you have children,” says this father of five, who fled violent fighting in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, five years ago.
“Even if it was just simple help, it gives us support,” says Chaar.
The civil war in Syria that started in 2011 killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more and destroyed the country’s infrastructure.
Russia intervened militarily in the conflict in 2015, helping the regime retake much of the territory that had fallen under rebel control.
“political issue”
“Russia drove us from our homes and today … it is making humanitarian aid a political issue,” accuses Chaar, who receives food, medical supplies and other aid from international organizations.
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing is controlled on the Syrian side by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS, former local al-Qaeda affiliate).
After a deadly earthquake in February, Damascus approved the opening of two more border crossings in areas controlled by rebels backed by Turkey by mid-August.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said on Tuesday that he hoped that authorization would be renewed, but these two passages “cannot compensate for Bab al-Hawa”. “85% of our supplies went through the door that was closed today,” he said.
On Wednesday, he said the “Secretary-General is not giving up the opportunity to keep Baba al-Hawa open.”
Negotiations at the United Nations resumed on Wednesday to find a solution to the impasse.
“War on Food?”
According to the United Nations, four million people in north-west Syria, mostly women and children, need humanitarian assistance to survive after years of conflict, economic crisis, disease outbreaks and poverty exacerbated by devastating earthquakes. However, the mechanism made it possible to help 2.7 million people every month.
Since the quake, more than 3,700 UN trucks carrying supplies have passed through the three border crossings, mostly through Bab al-Hawa, including 79 on Monday.
“The lives of millions of children depend entirely on the aid provided,” warns Save the Children’s Kathryn Achilles in a press release in this passage: “The United Nations Security Council urgently needs to reconvene and reverse this fatal decision.”
Russian UN official Vasily Nebenzi on Tuesday threatened to “close” the relief mechanism if a Russian proposal for a six-month extension was not backed. But this text also questions Western sanctions against Syria.
In the refugee camp, Jaziyah al-Hamid, 55, expresses her anger: “Do they want to make war against us for our food?” stands up this mother who lost her husband and daughter in the earthquake in the countryside and now with her five children live together in difficult conditions.
The little help she received helped her family to cover basic necessities, she says.
“We want more help,” not less. “Russia must not close the border crossing.”