Responding to the visit by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to the only humanitarian border crossing into Northwest Syria at Bab-al-Hawa, the head of the White Helmets, Raed Al Saleh, said his visit was long overdue.
Al Saleh met with Griffiths at the border crossing to demand the immediate opening of additional cross-border routes without waiting for UN Security Council approval.
“Since the moment the earthquake struck seven days ago we have been appealing to the UN to send urgent assistance to aid our rescue operations in Northwest Syria. For days these calls went unheeded and during this time countless lives have been needlessly lost. This visit is too little, too late. The UN’s failure to act quickly to save Syrian lives in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe is utterly shameful and should be a stain on its conscience,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US has called for the UN Security Council to “vote immediately” to authorise the delivery of UN aid to rebel-held northwest Syria through more border crossings from Turkey.
Since 2014, the UN has been able to deliver aid to millions of people in need in the northwest part of war-torn Syria through Turkey under a Security Council mandate. But it is currently restricted to using just one border crossing.
“Waiting for UN Security Council authorization to reopen more border crossings into the northwest is completely misguided, this unnecessary stalling will only cost more lives,” Saleh said.
“There can be no more delays. We urgently need the UN to open more border crossings into Northwest Syria so that cross-border humanitarian aid can flow unhindered. Failing to escalate medical aid deliveries rapidly will leave the UN with more blood on its hands.”
The Syria Campaign has launched a petition to demand that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres takes immediate action to ensure that all crossing points into northwest Syria are utilized effectively and to deliver aid, equipment, and technical support on the ground immediately.
