China wants cross-border aid and sanctions relief for Syria

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UNITED NATIONS (PA) – China said on Tuesday it wanted the UN Security Council to not only expand humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria from neighboring countries, but tackle the impact Western sanctions and the need to expand deliveries across conflict lines.

His comments came as the 15 Council countries only have four days left before the expiration of the cross-border aid mandate.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters after closed-door briefings at the council and discussion among members on a draft resolution to continue cross-border deliveries that he hopes “with more effort diplomatic, we can find a solution “- not just on cross-border aid.

“For China, we certainly want to see a solution regarding unilateral sanctions, regarding cross-border lines, regarding trans-border transparency. Not just talking about cross-border, but the general situation in Syria, ”said Zhang.

In early July 2020, China and Russia vetoed a UN resolution that would have maintained two border crossings from Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid to northwestern Syria, which is mainly controlled by the rebels. A few days later, under pressure from both countries, the council authorized the delivery of aid through only one of these crossing points, Bab an-Hawa. The one-year term for the use of this passage expires on Saturday.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned after Tuesday’s council meeting that Bab al-Hawa “is a lifeline for millions” in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria, and if the passage is closed, “I think the repercussions are obvious: people will starve.”

Echoing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, many Western diplomats and aid groups working in Syria, Thomas-Greenfield said there was no substitute for delivering aid from the UN across the borders of other countries rather than moving aid across conflict lines in Syria.

“Cross-border aid alone cannot meet the needs of Syrians – needs that have only increased in the past year with COVID,” she said.

“We have offered to support the expansion of cross-cutting aid, and we will continue to do so in good faith,” she said. “In fact, we have made a serious and credible proposal to expand humanitarian assistance across Syria – including cross-border and cross-border, including COVID emergency relief – to meet the urgent needs of the Syrian people. “

Responding to a question about the Chinese Ambassador’s comments and whether the United States is prepared to offer concessions on sanctions, Thomas-Greenfield replied, “This is not a discussion of sanctions. It is a question of humanitarian needs.

The ambassador, who visited Bab al-Hawa last month, said US sanctions only target the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while US humanitarian aid is intended for all Syrians, in government and rebel controlled areas.

During the debate on the cross-border resolution a year ago, Russia raised the issue of US and EU sanctions against its close ally Syria and their negative impact on the humanitarian situation in Syria. The US and the EU vehemently opposed the claims, insisting that their sanctions include humanitarian exemptions.

Two weeks ago Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that aid crossing conflict lines in Syria “is the only legitimate option for a humanitarian operation to deliver aid.” He accused Western countries of wasting the past year that could have been used “to find a transparent and constructive solution and an optimal balance of Idlib purchases through Bab al-Hawa and national channels”.

Nebenzia also said that US and European sanctions impose “a heavy burden” on every Syrian, saying: “You denounce humanitarian access while claiming that the problem of suffocating Syria with the sanctions does not exist” .

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting that Russia maintained “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 first used its veto threat in the council to limit aid deliveries to two border posts in the northwest, and then last July to reduce just one.

The council is currently negotiating a draft resolution proposed by Ireland and Norway that would maintain the Bab al-Hawa crossing and reopen the mostly controlled Al-Yaroubiya border post between Iraq and northeastern Syria. by the Kurds.

Last week, Nebenzia called the proposal to reopen Al-Yaroubiya “not launched”.

French Ambassador Nicolas De Rivière, the current chairman of the council, warned that while humanitarian aid deliveries are only allowed across conflict lines – and not from neighboring countries – Western countries which provide 92 % of humanitarian aid will stop funding.

Robert S. Ford, senior researcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said in a briefing released Tuesday that “Moscow’s main consideration ahead of the vote is its relationship with Ankara.” He said the Turkish government, which backs the Syrian opposition, wants to avoid a huge rush of refugees from northwestern Syria if the cross-border operation ends.

Russia has cooperated with Turkey in the so-called Astana process aimed at ending the fighting in Syria, while playing on “Turkish dissatisfaction with the American policy aimed at weakening the unity of the United States. ‘NATO,’ Ford said.

“The Russians are considering the cost of a veto on aid that would encourage the Turks to go further and faster towards rapprochement with the United States,” he said.

Ford said Russia could agree to extended cross-border aid deliveries “in exchange for cuts in Western sanctions,” cracking down on armed opposition groups in northwestern Syria and launching aid convoys from Damascus in Idlib.

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