UN raises concerns over government’s conditions for aid to NW Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The United Nations (UN) is concerned about “unacceptable conditions” set by the Syrian government for allowing aid to flow through its Bab al-Hawa border crossing to rebel-held areas in northwest Syria, AFP reported on Friday.
The delivery of humanitarian aid through the crossing has been suspended since July 10, as the 2014 UN deal expired.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has informed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that a recent letter from the Syrian authorities permitting the use of the Syria-Turkey border crossing has two conditions that are “unacceptable”.
OCHA expressed concern that the Syrian government has emphasized that the UN should not communicate with individuals or entities that are designated as “terrorist”.
Additionally, the government has required that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that “there’s been no crossings in Bab al-Hawa with UN humanitarian aid,” adding that authorities were reviewing Syria’s authorization.
“We’re taking a look at… what exactly was expressed in the letter,” Dujarric said.
The UNSC is to vote on extending aid deliveries to northwest Syria from Turkey, with a resolution sponsored by Brazil and Switzerland calling for a 12-month extension and a rival Russian resolution limiting the reauthorization to just six months.
In July 2014, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2165 which authorized the UN to deliver cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria through four border crossings al-Ramtha crossing with Jordan, Bab al-Salameh and Bab al-Hawa with Turkey, and al-Ya’rubiyah/Tel Kocher with Iraq, without the consent of the Syrian government.
In January 2020, UN Res. 2504 was adopted which reduced the number of border crossings to only Bab al-Salameh and Bab al-Hawa for six months open to renewal in a special meeting by the UNSC.
Since July 2020, Bab al-Hawa has been the only crossing kept open to UN aid based on Resolution 2533 (2020), while the use of the others was curtailed.
The closure of the al-Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) border crossing is a blatant politicization of the humanitarian situation in northeast Syria, said Badran Chiya Kurd, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) on Jan. 6.
Despite successive calls by the AANES and operating organizations in the region for the urgent need to open the crossing, the Russian and Chinese vetoes were always there, keeping the community’s needs in limbo.
Russia, main ally for the Syrian government, has long questioned the need for the operation, saying it is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and arguing that more humanitarian assistance should be delivered to the area from within Syria.