ANALYSIS/ How the war has hindered the delivery of aid to Syria

2023-02-14 09:05:41Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Thousands of people have been killed in Syria, as a result of an earthquake that hit the border region with Turkey, on February 6. However, little help has been provided to residents in the most affected areas. Search and rescue efforts have been hampered by a civil war that has divided the country and created divisions between regional and world powers. After 12 years of conflict, Syria is now torn apart.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has regained control of most of the country, but opposition groups and Turkish-backed fighters control the northwestern region. The United Nations believes that four million people were in need of aid in the region, even before the earthquake. The rebel-held northwest of Syria was the worst hit by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, although other government-held regions also suffered heavy casualties and damage.

Assad's government has said that foreign countries must respect Syria's sovereignty and that aid to any part of the state must go through government-controlled territory. In practice, aid to the rebel-held northwest has been sent for years from the border with Turkey, but the process requires UN Security Council approval every six months. Russia, a member of this council that has the right to veto and supports the Government in Damascus, has only approved the opening of an aid channel from Turkey, but has said that UN aid should be channeled through Damascus and then to front lines.

The head of the United Nations Aid Agency, Martin Griffiths, who visited Syria on Monday, is lobbying the UN to open other aid corridors from Turkey to help in the post-earthquake situation. Several attempts to send humanitarian aid to the front lines in Syria - since the earthquake - have shown how difficult this process is. A convoy headed from the north-east - controlled by the Kurds - to the north-west, controlled by Turkish rebel factions, was turned back on Thursday.

These two groups are enemies with each other and have fought several times throughout the civil war. Sources from both sides have blamed each other for the lack of aid and its politicization. On Sunday, a UN spokesman said that aid sent from government-controlled areas to earthquake zones was being hampered by several "stages of approval". A source within the group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - the Sunni Islamist organization involved in the civil war - said it would not allow aid to be sent to government areas.

Shtetet perëndimore kanë tentuar ta izolojnë Assadin prej shpërthimit të konfliktit, pasi atë e fajësojnë për shtypjen e përgjakshme të protestave më 2011. Ato e kanë sanksionuar Damaskun dhe i kanë ofruar shumë pak ndihmë direkte, ndonëse kanë thënë se sanksionet ekonomike nuk e prekin sektorin e ndihmave dhe se ende ka donacione të shumta brenda OKB-së, në të cilat ka qasje Damasku. Prej shpërthimit të tërmetit, mediat shtetërore siriane kanë thënë që më shumë se 50 aeroplanë kanë dërguar ndihma nga shtetet arabe dhe aziatike në aeroportet që kontrollon Qeveria.

It is said that the Italian medical aid arrived in these areas on Sunday, at the same time the first aid sent to Syria after the earthquake in the areas controlled by the Government. The strengthening of hard-line groups also had an impact on direct western aid in the northwest, so the border aid was sometimes delayed by three days. The process of sending aid then resumed on Thursday and included food, medical equipment and shelter - but not the excavators and other equipment that search and rescue teams need so badly./ REL

Në përputhje me standarded JTI