The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) on Monday condemned the suspension of United Nations’ aid deliveries through a crossing from Türkiye to northwestern Syria for the past seven weeks.
In a written statement, the rights group said that since U.N. aid halted, civilians residing in camps in the region have been facing difficult circumstances, as the supply of bread to numerous refugee camps had been cut off.
For seven weeks now, aid to northwestern Syria has been suspended since the cross-border aid mechanism expired on July 10 and after Russia vetoed the resolution to extend aid crossings in the U.N. Security Council on July 11.
Under a resolution adopted in 2014, international aid was sent to people in northwestern Syria via Türkiye. The aid, mostly food and medicine, is estimated to have reached 4 million people. After an earthquake killed more than 56,000 people in Türkiye and Syria in February, Syria allowed the U.N. to use those two border crossings from Türkiye to dispatch aid. The approval was due to expire on Aug. 13.
The mandate of the U.N. aid mechanism was previously extended until July 10 by a decision on Jan. 10.
Just days later, Damascus authorized the mechanism for another six months, saying the deliveries would have to be in “full cooperation and coordination with the Bashar Assad regime,” but those aid deliveries are yet to resume because the U.N. has concerns with “two unacceptable conditions.”
The same conditions have not been imposed on the U.N. use of the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee border crossings.
Syrians who fled Bashar Assad’s rule fear he may soon be able to choke off badly needed aid as Damascus acts to establish sway over U.N. assistance into the opposition-held northwest, the last major bastion of the Syrian opposition.
