Humanitarians warn against 'coordinating' with Syrian regime on aid delivery

Humanitarian groups have raised the alarm after the Syrian regime offered on Thursday to allow the UN to use a border crossing for the next six months to send aid to Syria under the condition that access is in "full cooperation and coordination" with the regime.

Rights organisations warned against coordinating with the regime, pointing to the Syrian regime's history of politicising aid.

"The Syrian government is the party that has been and continues to restrict access to aid in areas under its control," Diana Semaan, the Syria researcher at Amnesty International, told The New Arab.

"For the coming six months, cross-border aid will continue to flow, but we have no idea if that flow will come with conditions," Semaan added.

According to the latest UN figures in April, Northwest Syria is home to 4.5 million people, over 90 per cent of whom need humanitarian aid.

The area is controlled by former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Aid is delivered via the UN but parcelled out via a network of NGOs and other UN partners.

It is unclear if the regime’s offer to allow the UN to use the border crossing extended to these NGOs and UN partners or if Damascus will require the UN to go through its approved list of organisations.

"One of the concerns is what happens with the Syrian organisations that are operating in northwest Syria? They are not registered with Damascus," Semaan said.

The regime's offer was a surprise, as aid to northwest Syria had previously been delivered via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey under the authorisation of a UN Security Council resolution.

On Tuesday, Russia vetoed a resolution to extend cross-border aid to Syria via the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey for another nine months.

In private, decision-makers in the humanitarian sector told TNA that they felt trapped by the regime’s offer and were unsure how to move forward.

On the one hand, rejecting the offer could mean the complete cessation of aid, and on the other, accepting it could mean the Syrian regime could dictate who gets access to lifesaving aid in the northwest.

Other humanitarians were blunter, viewing the regime’s offer as a non-starter.

“If the UN agrees to the extension in coordination with the Syrian regime, it violates the most important principle of humanitarian work, ‘do no harm,’” Raed Saleh, the head of the Syrian civil defense also known as the White Helmets, told TNA.

Saleh pointed out that the more than two million IDPs who live in northwest Syria were displaced by the regime itself and have firsthand experience of the regime’s “weaponisation of aid.”

“It would be highly immoral to oblige Syrians who have been forcibly displaced … to accept assistance from the regime responsible for their current suffering. This would humiliate Syrians in the northwest and would force them to choose between dignity and meeting their basic needs,” Saleh said.

In Damascus, where the UN already has an aid hub, rights organisations have said the constraints the regime puts on aid workers has created safety issues for aid recipients.

In Damascus, the UN must work through aid organisations approved by the regime, such as the Syrian Arab Red Cross and the Syria Trust

In the UN's hub in Damascus, aid must go through organisations the Syrian regime approves.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that these organisations must provide access to beneficiary data "at any point" to Syrian intelligence operations, putting aid recipients at risk.

Regime-affiliated organisations have also prioritised aid to population deemed as loyal and withheld aid from those seen as affiliated with the former opposition.

There are additional concerns that Damascus would divert some of the aid to enrich its own coffers.

A study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed that in 2020, Damascus took nearly 51 cents of each aid dollar spent in Syria.

Legal experts have said that civilian well-being must be prioritised. In the absence of the consent of the Syrian regime or UNSC approval, the cross-border aid operation must continue.

"Had the UN followed that legal advice, we wouldn't be in a situation where we are relying on a Russian veto or Syrian government approval," Semaan said.

Other members of the UNSC could propose a new resolution to extend the current cross-border mandate, but Russia would likely veto it once again.