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US: Syrians in Dire need of Aid Must Receive it

Margaret Besheer

   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the U.N.
   Security Council to authorize more border crossings for the delivery of
   humanitarian aid into Syria, where an estimated 13.4 million people
   require assistance.

   "The Security Council takes up so many challenges that are complicated,
   this is not one of them," Blinken told council members. "The lives of
   people in Syria depend on getting urgent help. We have to do everything
   in our power to create ways for that aid to get to them -- to open
   pathways, not to close them."

   The United States is president of the Security Council this month, and
   Blinken chaired the monthly discussion of the humanitarian situation in
   Syria, which entered its second decade of civil war this month.

   In July, the 15-nation council will have to decide whether to renew or
   close the last remaining crossing point from Turkey into Syria for the
   transfer of humanitarian supplies. The one thousand aid-filled trucks
   which cross monthly through Bab al-Hawa, provide a lifeline to four
   million people in northwest Syria, which is outside of government
   control.
   FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2020 file photo, Syrians flee the advance of
   government forces towards the Turkish border, in Idlib province, Syria.

   In the past 14 months, the United Nations has lost three of the four
   border crossings it used to bring humanitarian assistance into Syria
   from neighboring countries. Due to objections and obstruction from
   Russia and China on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad's government at
   the Security Council, authorizations for those crossings were not
   renewed.

   Russia has already signaled that it is not interested in renewing the
   Bab al-Hawa crossing, instead supporting the Assad regime's demand for
   all aid to be distributed from Damascus across conflicts lines. But the
   U.N .and its aid partners say deliveries that go across internal
   conflict lines have been insufficient and open the door to regime
   interference on where the aid goes.

   "The current approach is unjustified, ineffective, indefensible. It is
   directly resulting in the increased suffering of the Syrian people,"
   Blinken said. "So, let me propose a different approach, let's
   reauthorize both border crossings that have been closed, and
   reauthorize the one border crossing that remains open. Let's give
   ourselves more pathways, rather than fewer pathways, to deliver food
   and medicine to the Syrian people."

   The United Nations has also appealed to keep the cross-border operation
   running. In the past year, it says that needs in Syria have grown 20%
   due conflict, a currency crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

   On Tuesday, the United Nations and the European Union will co-host a
   pledging conference for Syria, seeking to raise over $10 billion
   dollars for humanitarian efforts.

   That includes at least $4.2 billion for assistance inside Syria and
   $5.8 billion to support refugees and host communities in the region.
   Last year, the international community pledged $5.5 billion to assist
   needy Syrians.

   The United States is the largest single contributor of humanitarian
   assistance in Syria.