Beirut The Syrian government recently announced it would allow
aid to cross into rebel-held areas after a United Nations mechanism
expired, sparking concerns from humanitarian groups.
They worry over the fate of residents in Syrias last remaining
rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security
Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism.
Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab
al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorisation of
Damascus.
But expiry of the UN mechanism, as well as Syrias decision to
change course on the delivery of aid to those areas, has sparked
fears and questions among the humanitarian community.
What did Damascus propose?
Syria said it made a sovereign decision to allow aid to flow
through the Bab al-Hawa crossing for six months starting last
Thursday.
The crossing is the main entry point for aid to rebel-held
areas, though it also occasionally trickles in from areas under the
control of Damascus.
Following a February 6 earthquake that struck both northwest
Syria and southern Turkey, Syrian authorities agreed to temporarily
open two other border crossings with Turkey until August.
Russia on Tuesday vetoed a proposal to extend the UN mechanism
at Bab al-Hawa for nine months, then failed to muster enough votes
for an alternate proposal to extend it for six months.
The UN expressed concerns over two unacceptable conditions set
by Damascus for allowing aid to flow through the crossing,
according to a document reviewed Friday by AFP.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said it was concerned that Damascus had stressed that the
United Nations should not communicate with entities designated as
terrorist'.
The second condition it bridled at was that the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent
(SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of
humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.
Roughly half of Idlib province and parts of neighbouring
provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), considered
a terrorist group by Damascus, as well as by the US and UN.
About three million people, the majority of them displaced, live
in areas controlled by HTS, while another 1.1 million are in zones
under the control of Turkey-backed groups.
Years of conflict have left much of the rebel-held areas which
host overcrowded camps for the displaced in desperate need of aid
as poverty and disease run rife.
What are the concerns?
The UN has described Damascuss conditions for reopening the Bab
al-Hawa crossing as unacceptable.
The OCHA document seen by AFP called for the need to review and
clarify parts of Damascuss letter...
