Late response to earthquake in Syria shows “inadequacy” of UNSC – NGO
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The late response to the earthquake that hit Syria shows the “inadequacy” of the cross border aid mechanism adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Adam Coogle, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch said, in a report, “Syrians in the northwest have been crying out to the rest of the world to come to their rescue, yet only a trickle of aid has so far reached those most in need.”
He called on all parties to the conflict to facilitate the rapid passage of lifesaving aid to people affected by the earthquake in all Syrian areas.
Millions of people in areas of northwest Syria held by opposition groups have been largely without access to critical search-and-rescue reinforcements and lifesaving aid since the earthquakes struck their areas.
“The Syrian government’s authorization of two more border crossings into northwest Syria for just three months is too little, too late,” Coogle added.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to allow UN aid deliveries to opposition-held areas in northwest Syria through two border crossings with Turkey for three months, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Feb. 14.
The Syrian government and the UNSC’s authorized cross border mechanism failed to meet the urgent needs of the Syrians, which highlights the necessity of alternative aid systems, according to Coogle.
Parties to the conflict in Syria have hindered the passage of aid into opposition-held areas, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) and Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), have hampered humanitarian assistance from reaching heavily impacted areas of northwest Syria.
The HRW said, citing an international humanitarian worker based in areas held by Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the Syrian government is preventing a local organization in the northeast from sending an aid convoy through its-held territory into SDF-held areas “unless it hands over half of its supplies.”
On Feb. 9, Abd Hamed al-Mehbash, Co-chair of the Executive Council of the AANES, said other Syrian parties are hindering the arrival of aid the AANES has prepared to be sent to the areas hit by the earthquakes.
In addition, some days after the earthquakes struck, the HTS blocked a convoy sent from government-held areas which carried UN aid from entering Idlib, according to the report.
Days after the earthquake, the AANES has attempted to deliver aid to earthquake-afflicted areas in the northwest of the country. However, aid convoys remained stranded at the Umm Jloud crossing, between the AANES and the SNA factions, and at the al-Tayha crossing, between the AANES and the Syrian government.
However, yesterday at night, the 100-convoy of fuel tanks, sent by the AANES, entered the government areas to reach the Kurdish majority areas of Aleppo after days of waiting at the crossing.