Russia and China veto the extension of the humanitarian aid programme for the province of Idlib, in Syria. Non-governmental organisations rise up in protest.
Russia and China have vetoed a proposed United Nations resolution that would have allowed the extension by one year of cross-border humanitarian aid to the population of Syria. This is a programme that enables four million people in the Middle Eastern nation to be reached. For this reason, non-governmental organisations have cried scandal and sounded the alarm over the consequences for the population.
The aid programme in question concerns in particular a region that to this day remains outside the control of the authorities in Damascus. This is the province of Idlib, in the north-western portion of Syrian territory. There, despite repeated appeals by the United Nations itself, clashes and bombardments have been recorded since 16 December last. This has forced tens of thousands of people to abandon their homes. Men, women and children who depend directly on humanitarian aid, which is brought into the territory through Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, making use of certain corridors created specifically for that purpose. The problem: the aid programme has never been officially authorised by the government of Bashar al-Assad. And the mandate conferred on the United Nations by other nations expires on 10 January.
Everything is further compounded by the problems associated with the winter season. "These families depend directly on aid. Many have been forced to flee from place to place, time and again, during the phases of crisis in Syria," Oxfam warned. Adding that "there is no other means of reaching these people".
An observation shared by Carolyn Miles of Save the Children, according to whom "while United Nations member states trade accusations instead of renewing aid that is indispensable for Syrian children, hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib are once again under the bombs". "We are entering a new phase of impunity. The fighting continues and aid is now blocked," accused David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee.
To understand the gravity of the situation, it is worth considering that more than three million people still live in Idlib. The area is largely under the control of the Salafist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham), which is close to the terrorists of al-Qaeda. This is why clashes and air raids by the Syrian air force continue.
On Saturday, twelve civilians were killed as a direct result of a bombardment. Since Thursday evening, moreover, clashes in the city of Maaret al-Noomane have caused 140 deaths among military personnel (of whom 57 belonging to pro-Assad forces). Three of them died on Sunday in an attack against Syrian positions attributed to the Israeli army.
More broadly, since the ceasefire announced by Russia at the end of August, more than 280 civilians have lost their lives, according to information released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria, therefore, continues to find no peace, after a war that has caused 370,000 deaths and millions of refugees.
