UNITED NATIONS: China said Tuesday it wants the U.N. Security Council to not only extend humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria from neighboring countries but to tackle the impact of Western sanctions and the need to expand deliveries across conflict lines.
His comments came as the 15 council nations have just four days left before the mandate for cross-border aid expires.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters after closed briefings to the council and a discussion among members on a draft resolution to continue cross-border deliveries that he hopes with more diplomatic efforts we can find a solution — not just on cross-border aid.
For China, definitely we want to see a solution concerning unilateral sanctions, concerning cross-lines, concerning the transparency of the cross-border. Not just talking about cross-border but about the general situation in Syria, Zhang said.
In early July 2020, China and Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have maintained two border crossing points from Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid to Syrias mainly rebel-held northwest. Days later, under pressure from both countries, the council authorized the delivery of aid through just one of those crossings, Bab an-Hawa. The one-year mandate for using that crossing expires Saturday.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned after Tuesdays council meeting that Bab al-Hawa is a lifeline to millions of people in northwestern Syrias Idlib region and if the crossing is closed, I think the repercussions are obvious: people will starve to death.
Echoing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, many Western diplomats and humanitarian groups working in Syria, Thomas-Greenfield said there is no substitute for delivering U.N. aid across borders from other countries rather than moving aid across conflict lines within Syria.
Cross-line aid alone cannot meet the needs of the Syrians — needs that have only risen in the past year with COVID, she said.
We have offered to support expanding cross-line aid, and we will continue to do so in good faith, she said. In fact, we have put forward a serious and credible proposal to expand humanitarian assistance across Syria — including cross-line and cross-border, including urgent COVID relief — to meet the urgent needs of the Syrian people.
Responding to a question about the comments from Chinas ambassador and whether the U.S. is prepared to offer any concessions on sanctions, Thomas-Greenfield replied: This is not a discussion about sanctions. Its a question of humanitarian needs.
The ambassador, who visited Bab al-Hawa last month, said the U.S. sanctions target only Syrian President Bashar Assads regime, while U.S. humanitarian assistance is for all Syrians, in both government-controlled and rebel-held areas.
During the debate over the cross-border resolution a year ago, Russia raised the issue of U.S. and European Union sanctions on its close ally Syria and their negative impact on Syrias humanitarian situation. The U.S. and EU vehemently objected to the allegations, insisting their sanctions provide humanitarian exemptions.
Two weeks ago, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that aid moving across conflict lines within Syria is the only legitimate option for a humanitarian operation to deliver assistance. He accused Western nations of wasting the past year that could have been used to find a seamless and constructive solution and an optimal balance of Idlibs procurement through both Bab al-Hawa and domestic channels.
Nebenzia also said U.S. and EU sanctions put a heavy burden on every Syrian, saying: You blow the whistle regarding humanitarian access while pretending that the problem of Syrias suffocation with sanctions does not exist.
Russias deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters after Tuesdays meeting that Russia maintains the same position as expressed previously.
The Security Council approved four border crossings when aid deliveries began in 2014, three years after the start of the Syrian conflict. But in January 2020, Russia used its veto threat in the council first to limit aid deliveries to two border crossings in the northwest, and then last July to cut to one.
The council is now negotiating on a draft resolution proposed by Ireland and Norway that would maintain the Bab al-Hawa crossing and reopen the Al-Yaroubiya border crossing from Iraq to Syrias mainly Kurdish-controlled northeast.
Last week, Nebenzia called the proposal to reopen Al-Yaroubiya a non-starter.
French Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere, the current council president, warned that if humanitarian aid deliveries are allowed only across conflict lines — and not from neighboring countries — Western nations that provide 92% of humanitarian relief will stop the funding.
Robert S. Ford, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said in a briefing circulated Tuesday that Moscows key consideration ahead of the vote is its relationship with Ankara. He said the Turkish government, which supports the Syrian opposition, wants to avoid an enormous refugee rush from northwest Syria if the cross-border operation ends.
Russia has been cooperating with Turkey in the so-called Astana process aimed at ending the fighting in Syria while it plays on Turkish dissatisfaction with American policy to weaken NATO unity, Ford said.
The Russians are considering the cost of an aid veto that would encourage the Turks to move farther and faster toward a rapprochement with the United States, he said.
Ford said Russia might accept an extension of cross-border aid deliveries in return for reductions in Western sanctions, clamping down on armed opposition groups in northwest Syria, and launching aid convoys from Damascus to Idlib.
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