The situation with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Idlib, where there are no mechanisms for controlling its distribution, is worrying, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the world organization Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Monday at a UN Security Council meeting.
"Our concerns relate to what is happening directly in Idlib, which is overrun by terrorists who have subjugated every area of people's lives, including their free movement. What kind of impartial and independent nature of aid distribution in such conditions can we talk about at all?" he noted.
By way of example, he cited the situation of an aid shipment from Aleppo to Sarmada in Idlib province in August. It was only possible to distribute it to residents of Idlib in December. "We emphasize the urgent need for the United Nations and international experts to be reinforced in the enclave. This will help increase confidence in the distribution mechanism," Polyanskiy pointed out.
The Russian diplomat also drew attention to the fact that the militants in Idlib are preventing the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2585 in terms of aid delivered across the lines of separation. "Only two humanitarian convoys have entered Idlib in six months - only 28 trucks. At the same time, during the same period - from July to November - 48,498 trucks passed through Bab al-Hawa (border crossing point between Turkey and Syria - TASS) into the de-escalation zone. And this testifies not to the lack of any alternative to the cross-border mechanism, but to the resistance of the Idlib fighters to the implementation of Resolution 2585," he stressed.
On July 9, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the extension of cross-border assistance in Syria. The document was drafted jointly by Russia, the US, Ireland, and Norway. It prolonged the operation of the only crossing point Bab al-Hawa on the border of Syria and Turkey for 12 months on the condition that in six months the UN Secretary-General would report on the work of the mechanism of cross-border assistance. Russia, however, insisted on the need to develop, above all, the delivery of aid across the contact lines inside Syria, rather than to other countries.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: AP / TASS
Based on materials from TASS