BEIRUT: Amnesty International on Friday called on the United Nations to keep delivering crucial aid to quake-stricken Syrians via two crossings in rebel-held areas even if authorization from Damascus expires.
On February 6, a devastating earthquake hit Turkiye and Syria, killing more than 55,000 people across both countries.
The UN chief said on February 13 that Syrian President Bashar Assad had agreed to open the Bab Al-Salama and Al-Rai crossings from Turkiye to allow aid to enter for an initial period of three months.
Damascus has yet to announce an extension of the authorization.
The UN “must continue to deliver aid” through those two crossings after May 13 “regardless of whether the government renews” its consent, Amnesty said in a statement.
Before the disaster, almost all crucial humanitarian aid for the more than four million people living in rebel-controlled areas of north and northwest Syria was being delivered from Turkiye through one conduit — the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.
The number of UN-approved crossings into Syria had shrunk from four in 2014, after years of pressure from regime allies China and Russia at the UN Security Council.
Three days after the quake, the first UN aid convoy crossed into north and northwest Syria and carried tents and other supplies that had been expected before the disaster, sparking fierce criticism from local humanitarian groups and activists.
“The lives of more than four million people are at stake and international law is clear that their rights must be paramount,” Amnesty’s Sherine Tadros said in the statement.
“The UN should take a clear stand against the cruel political machinations that have hampered its humanitarian operations in northern Syria for several years,” Tadros added.
Turkish-backed rebels operate the Bab Al-Salama and Al-Rai crossings in the northern Aleppo province, while the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham controls Bab Al-Hawa in the Idlib region.
The UN estimated earlier this week that Syria needs almost $15 billion to recover following the quake, and put total damages and losses for the country at almost $9 billion.
UN must keep moving quake aid to Syria after deadline: Amnesty
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UN must keep moving quake aid to Syria after deadline: Amnesty
- Three days after the quake, the first UN aid convoy crossed into north and northwest Syria and carried tents and other supplies that had been expected before the disaster
- "The lives of more than four million people are at stake and international law is clear that their rights must be paramount," said Amnesty's Sherine Tadros
Jordan condemns US ambassador remarks on accepting Israel’s West Bank annexation
- The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejects the ambassador’s “absurd and provocative statements”
CAIRO: Jordan condemned Saturday earlier remarks by US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee, who said it would be acceptable if Israel took control of the entire Middle East, including the West Bank.
Huckabee has suggested that he would not object if Israel were to take most of the Middle East.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejects the ambassador’s “absurd and provocative statements,” in a statement published on Petra News Agency.
Ministry spokesman Fouad Majali said the remarks “constitute a violation of diplomatic norms, an infringement on the sovereignty of the region's countries, a blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter.”
Majali also said they contradict diplomatic efforts by the United States and the declared position of US President Donald Trump in rejecting the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The spokesperson reaffirmed that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are occupied Palestinian territories under international law, and that ending Israel’s occupation is a must for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on all of the occupied Palestinian territory, based on the two-state solution.
