Syria regime continues to hamper aid delivery: UN

UN’s top relief official Valerie Amos says Assad regime has allowed UN access to just three of 33 locations requested for aid delivery since Jan. 1.

NEW YORK (AA) – The Bashar al-Assad-led Syrian regime is continuing to hamper aid delivery to desperately needy civilians, UN’s top relief official said Thursday.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, told the UN Security Council that the regime had granted access to just three of the 33 locations requested for aid delivery since Jan. 1.

“I ask this council to make it clear to the government of Syria that these convoys must be allowed to proceed and their security forces should allow free passage of all supplies to people in need,” Amos said.

In February 2014, the Security Council adopted a resolution to increase humanitarian aid access, calling on the Syrian government to allow aid agencies to enter the country. This was followed by another resolution in July 2014 that authorized cross-border and cross-line access for the UN and its partners to deliver humanitarian aid without the government’s consent.

Although the resolutions were legally binding, they did not present an immediate threat of punishment. Aid agencies recently said the council had failed to implement its resolutions aimed at alleviating the suffering.

“We must be allowed to deliver essential humanitarian items, such as food, nutritional supplies for children, medicines and medical items,” Amos said. “Time is running out. More people will die,” she added.

She urged the Security Council to consider taking “concrete steps” in the face of violations of the council’s resolutions.

The Syrian civil war, which entered a fifth year this month, has claimed more than 220,000 lives so far, according to the UN.