The Syrian authorities have allowed emergency aid from the UN to enter their country through the Turkish border. Aid to rebel-held areas was suspended for a time. Syria has been in a civil war for ten years.
Syrian UN ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh told the UN’s most powerful body on Thursday that the Syrian government has decided to re-authorize the UN and its agencies to use the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. The permission is valid for six months.
President Bashar al-Assad had in recent years pushed for the border to be closed so that he could gain more control over rebel-held areas. Some Syrian opponents are therefore asking questions today about the motives for the government’s sudden change of course. “The Syrian regime is trying to present itself better to the world by no longer blocking aid,” says Yasser al-Farhan, opposition member and human rights lawyer.
“We don’t want Syria’s humanitarian issues to be held hostage in the hands of the Russians,” a group of Syrian opposition lawyers, human rights lawyers and politicians said in a petition sent out on Friday. They warned that obstructing humanitarian aid deliveries across borders to rebel-held areas would lead to new waves of refugees from northern Syria fleeing to neighboring countries and then to Europe and beyond.
Is nothing but a new trick to circumvent UN resolutions
“We believe that the announcement by the Assad regime that aid will be allowed to cross the border for a period of six months is nothing more than another ploy to circumvent UN resolutions and continue its policy of thwarting international efforts to rescue Syrians. and help to hinder,” the petitioners wrote.
According to the UN, 85 percent of all goods for northwestern Syria pass through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which has been closed since Monday evening. According to the UN, 4.1 million people in this region need help.
After a devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey a few months ago, al-Assad temporarily opened two more border crossings with Turkey, Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee, which remain open. However, Bab al-Hawa is a more important border crossing.
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