Al-Shammat: Government Won’t Wait for Geneva 2 Conference to Protect Civilians

TEHRAN- The “humanitarian and relief file in Syria has nothing to do with the currently held international conference on Syria “Geneva2”, said Minister of Social Affairs Kinda al-Shammat, stressing that the Syrian government, two years ago, set up programs and plans to protect civilians, particularly women and Children.

“We won’t wait for Geneva conference to protect them,” said the minister.

Al-Shammat, visiting Iran, said in a press conference yesterday in Tehran “those who cut heads off, committed atrocities, violated women freedom and recruited children in the fight have no right to claim that they are keen on protecting civilians.”

“The armed terrorist groups are the parties which siege civilians, use them as human shields, siege safe residential areas, prevent aid convoys to reach the besieged people and hinder the evacuation of civilians from many areas,” the minister clarified.

Al-Shammat, as the head of the Higher Relief Committee, urged Geneva2 conference not to allow the politicization of the Syrian humanitarian file and stressed that what hindered the government’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance was the incessant attacks of the armed groups on relief convoys by using civilians as human shields.

She affirmed that only the Syrian government has the authority to manage the humanitarian files in Syria, referring to the several evacuation cases implemented in several areas in Syria, like al-Moaddameya, Adra and al-Yarmouk Camp.  During her meetings with Iranian officials, al-Shammat asserted the importance of Syrian-Iranian cooperation in the services and social domains. She stressed the need to benefit from the Iranian experience in the area of providing care to martyrs’ families, particularly because the Syrian government is greatly interested in helping martyrs’ families and injured people.

H. Mustafa