Foreign-backed terrorism, main cause of humanitarian crisis

It’s high time that those, who have long been denied, acknowledge that the main cause that led to a humanitarian crisis in a number of Syrian areas is the rise and spread of foreign-backed terrorism. Terrorism is the primary cause of humanitarian suffering among Syrians, and combating terrorism is the way to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The areas where there are humanitarian needs in Syria are the ones where terrorists ran amok and vandalized the infrastructure and facilities, displaced locals, or used them as human shields.

There are many cases which were documented by UN teams operating in Syria where terrorists stole relief supplies or prevented their delivery to those who need them. Statistics by UN-affiliated humanitarian agencies operating in Syria show the vast extent of the cooperation on the part of the Syrian government and its facilitation of aid delivery via the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to those who need them in all Syrian areas without discrimination.

The Syrian government has been a partner that fulfilled its obligations completely and continuously in the operations aiming at delivering humanitarian aid to all Syrian areas, and that is why it signed six response plans with OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).

The Turkish government prevents UN workers from using Nusaybin border crossing for entering the aid to the country, as the terrorist organization of “the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) also prevents the entrance of aid through borders with Iraq.

The main reasons for the UN failure are: denying that terrorism, backed by some known countries, was the main reason for the eruption of the humanitarian crisis in many areas across Syria as well as OCHA’s non-cooperation with the Syrian government and its insistence to deliver the aid across the border without a precedent coordination with Syria and engaging Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in the process which caused fall of humanitarian aid in the hands of armed terrorist organizations.

The UN should lift the illegitimate unilateral steps taken against Syria by some states in blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law. Imposing unilateral, coercive and illegal measures by some countries which alleged their friendship to the Syrian people has directly affected the living situation of the Syrian people, government and private sector’s ability to ensure their needs.

The irresponsible and criminal acts perpetrated by some member-states, mainly the EU decision to stop fuel supply to Syrian civil plans are a violation of the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Any measures that might be taken to stop the humanitarian suffering of needy Syrians would be patchy and insufficient as long as the relevant counterterrorism resolutions of the UN Security Council are not yet put into effect.

Fighting terrorism demands putting an end to the practices of the “Turkish-Qatari-Saudi-Israeli alliance” which is providing support, funds and arms to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Jabhat al-Nusra, Free Army and other terrorist organizations. Acknowledgement of this support was made by the U.S. retired General Wesley Clark, a former supreme commander of NATO, who said that ISIS-has emerged relying on funding by close friends and allies of the US.

There is a need to halt the politicization of the humanitarian issue in Syria, a conduct that appears evident in various reports put forth by the UN General Secretariat itself.

What the Syrian Arab army is doing is fighting terrorism and protecting civilians, and it is doing so in accordance with the international conventions.

Terrorist groups’ crimes which have driven the Syrians out of their home areas and turned them into displaced or refugees who had camps opened for them in neighboring countries, those same Syrians are being used as cards to exert political pressure on the government and justify intervention plots.

Those who really want to help the Syrian refugees must work first of all on helping them return home in cooperation with the Syrian government, which has repeatedly stressed its readiness to secure all the basic needs for them.

The terrorist groups in Syria are the major source of all the impediments standing in the way of the humanitarian organizations operating in the country. The terrorist groups in Syria continue to kill civilians barbarically, which is what is hindering the aid delivery and worsening the humanitarian situation.

K.Q