Displaced people struggle amid dire shortage of humanitarian aid to northern Syria

Many residents in displacement camps across northern Syria are struggling following a recent decline in humanitarian aid, The New Arab’s Arabic language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The aid reaching camps - of which there are around 1,500 near the Turkish-Syrian border - is not enough to meet civilians’ needs.

They are currently facing a severe shortage of basic necessities like food and water, according to humanitarian workers.

Rebel-held north-western Syra is home to over four million Syrians, at least half of whom are displaced and living in desperate conditions after fleeing Syrian regime persecution and bombardment, according to Syria’s Response Coordination Team.

At least 894 out of 1,489 displaced people's camps are not receiving food aid, with 361 camps receiving food aid irregularly, according to a new report issued by the team.

Over 1,038 camps are not receiving subsidised or free bread and 590 camps suffer from a complete lack of water supply, with an additional 269 camps not receiving sufficient quantities of water, the response team highlighted.

A cut in international aid to the northern region is also causing a health crisis in the area, NGO Amnesty International said in May, after major donors including the UK and the US slashed aid to the war-torn country in 2021.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border has been the only point of entry for United Nations’ aid into opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria for the past two years.

The reported lack of aid comes ahead of the UN Security Council's scheduled vote on 10 July on whether aid should continue to be delivered along this route.

Assad regime ally Russia has threatened to stop aid going through the crossing, saying it should go through Assad-controlled areas of Syria instead.

However, aid coming in via regime areas has not been enough for just one of the camp’s needs, making up less than 70 truck loads, Mazaen Alloush, the Director of the Public Relations and Media Office at the Bab al-Hawa crossing told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Alloush said most aid passing through regime areas is stolen by Assad’s forces, stressing that if the aid provision through the Bab al-Hawa crossing is not renewed, a humanitarian catastrophe could arise.

The director called on the UN to send the issue to the General Assembly, in order to stop Russia's veto and protect civilians

Stopping humanitarian aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing is also likely to create a new displacement crisis in Turkey and Europe, the director of the Syrian Response Coordinators team Mohammed Hallaj told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.