A UN Security Council resolution reauthorizing cross-border assistance deliveries into opposition-held northern and western Syria has been vetoed by Russia. More than three million people are at risk of famine as a result of the closing of the last route from Turkey. One of the last UN assistance convoys to enter the nation has being followed by media reporter Anna Foster.
Dinner for Umm Ali’s seven children is prepared by carefully bringing a pot of water to a boil. To keep the flames burning, she feeds the fire with cardboard scraps and trash that she can find. Because supplies are limited here at the Al-Sadaqah camp in the Idlib countryside, the dinner she prepares is modest and simple. She is appreciative of the food assistance she gets, but even that is insufficient.
“The youngsters visit the landfill each day to gather aluminum cans, nylon bags, and iron. They only get enough money from selling them to buy four bread packs. That will simply cover our breakfast, so “she claims.
Even though Umm claims to be grateful for the food assistance she receives, it is insufficient. These packages are now scheduled to end entirely.
The 11-year civil conflict has left more Syrians in need than at any other time, according to the UN, as the country’s economy has been decimated by a toxic concoction of the fighting, the Covid-19 outbreak, and the war in Ukraine. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the price of food has increased by 800% in just the past two years.
The massive cross-border operation, which was established in 2014, is only in existence thanks to a UN authorization that permits it to continue without the consent of Syria’s ally and president Bashar al-Assad.
The Security Council was supposed to renew it in a meeting that morning in New York, but as the day wore on, the time slid further and further. Early that evening, officials acknowledged they would have to postpone the vote until the following day, which was supposed to be a holiday for Eid al-Adha.
There were ultimately two votes. The first focused on a compromise that Norway and Ireland had drafted. The arrangement would have been automatically extended for a further six months unless a member elected to terminate it. Russia, however, blocked that.
An alternate suggestion from Moscow was a six-month extension that would need to be actively renewed in January 2023. Others did not vote, including the US, the UK, and France.
NGOs have reacted quickly, stating that the outcome is disastrous.
Save the Children’s Syria response director Tamer Kirolos has urged the Security Council to meet again and reconsider its decision.
Without a doubt, the Council’s decision to not renew this crossing puts the lives of hundreds of thousands of children at danger, children who have only ever experienced war and life in camps, he said.
And Mercy Corps CEO Tjada D’Oyen McKenna claimed that politics had taken precedence over the need for life-saving assistance for Syrians in need.
“Today, the people of northwest Syria were let down by the United Nations Security Council. As food prices rise, conflict rages on, and economic stagnation persists, millions of people are kept in the dark about how they will receive life-saving assistance “She spoke.
