Al-Ya’rubiyah closure politicization of human condition in NE Syria – AANES
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – 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 Friday.
Tel Kocher crossing between Syria and Iraq has been closed to UN humanitarian access to northeast Syria since 2020 due to the objection of Russia and China.
Chiya Kurd’s statement came with the mandate of the UN humanitarian access nearing a close amid the continuous closure of the Tel Kocher crossing in the AANES-held areas.
Since July 10, 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.
In July 2014, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2165 which authorized the UN to deliver cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria through four crossings al-Ramtha crossing with Jordan, Bab al-Salam, Bab al-Hawa with Turkey, and al Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) with Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), without the consent of the Syrian government.
Chiya Kurd added that the Russian-Chinese veto to close the Tel Kocher crossing is a “purely political aspect.”
Such a decision is a prejudice to the millions living in northeast Syria, he noted.
The closure of Tel Kocher border crossing was effective, as 40% of medical and hygiene supplies, in addition to water and sanitation were entering northeast Syria through the crossing.
The AANES official believed the decision to close the Tel Kocher crossing should be reconsidered, and it is “an urgency”, as he put it.
The AANES-held areas include tens of camps that house tens of thousands of the IDPs who live in dire health and living conditions, according to local reports.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani, and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah, and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
“The international community should reconsider the politicized mechanisms in providing humanitarian support for Syria,” Badran Chiya Kurd, indicated.