After the veto: Syria approves humanitarian aid deliveries for 6 subsequent months

The humanitarian catastrophe for Northwestern Syria seems to have been averted for now. On Thursday, Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bassam Sabagh, said UN aid shipments across the Bab al-Hawa border could again be resumed from July 13. In a letter to the UN Security Council, he wrote that the aid deliveries would have to be carried out “in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government”.

A humanitarian catastrophe was looming for 4 million people in Northwestern Syria around the Idlib region. According to the UN, this is how many people are dependent on the aid supplies. The affected region is not under the control of the Syrian government. Aid shipments may enter the region directly through areas controlled by Turkey and the opposition. The dominant force in Idlib is the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda Hay’at Tahrir ash-Sham (HTS), a terrorist organization which, under Turkish patronage, has been able to spread to areas directly occupied by Turkey.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the veto powers in the UN Security Council mutually prevented an extension of aid deliveries for Northwestern Syria. Sabagh wrote that the Syrian government made a sovereign decision. On July 10, the extension for the aid shipments expired.

Other regions of Syria, on the other hand, receive little or no help at all. The only open border crossing at Tel Koçer/ al-Yarubiyah to Northern and Eastern Syria was closed in 2020 after intensive efforts by Russia and China in the UN Security Council. This affects more than 5 million people with hundreds of thousands internally displaced. Now the region is also experiencing an acute water crisis, as Turkey has completely turned off the water for some regions from the North and reduced the water supply in other places. Turkey is fighting the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, AANES for short, not only militarily but also economically. Attacks on civilian infrastructure are not uncommon in the region. A humanitarian catastrophe is looming for the region, while at the same time this part of Syria is largely ignored.