Vivian Salama and Stephen Kalin
WSJ, Feb. 8, 2023
“Humanitarian aid that goes through Damascus has been weaponized for years.”
The U.S.’s longstanding refusal to engage with Syria’s government, along with limited access to areas hit by catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, has raised fears that Syrian victims could be denied lifesaving aid.
As images of frantic recovery efforts and buildings reduced to rubble emerged on Tuesday, the Biden administration pledged support to the government of Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and vowed to work with humanitarian organizations in Syria.
While the operation gets under way in Turkey, the challenges to aiding earthquake victims in Syria, at least half of whom were displaced by more than a decade of civil war, have sparked a plea by humanitarian groups for swift United Nations intervention.
Only one official border crossing from Turkey to Syria is operational, according to aid organizations, and access is blocked by debris from the quakes.
Approval to move aid through other channels would need to come through direct negotiations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which critics argue would legitimize its authority, or through the United Nations Security Council. A U.N. Security Council resolution would require assent from Russia, an ally of Mr. Assad that has in the past resisted efforts to work around his government to funnel aid to rebel-held parts of the country. … [To read the full article, click here]