FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 9, 2020 CONTACT: Thomas Georges, 315-790-9808 [email protected] Russian/Chinese Vetoes of Security Council Resolution on Cross-Border Aid Put Millions of Civilians at Risk The U.S. and its allies must ensure that the Assad regime and Russia cannot continue to deny life saving aid to areas outside of regime control. Washington, DC — Americans for a Free Syria (AFS) today condemned Russia and China for vetoing a draft resolution that would have extended the authorizations for two crossing points for vital humanitarian aid to northwest Syria. Tuesday’s vetoes are consistent with a long-running Russian strategy to deny aid to besieged areas of Syria by insisting that all humanitarian assistance run through Damascus, so that Assad and his cronies can continue to manipulate and profit personally while civilians suffer. It is absolutely critical that the UN continues direct cross-border aid into non-regime-controlled areas, where civilians are in greatest need, even if Russia obstructs or vetoes. UN officials at every level recognize the dire humanitarian conditions in IDP camps in Northwest and Northeast Syria. Six months ago, Russia’s games at the UNSC forced the closure of the al-Ya’aroubia crossing, and since then, civilians have suffered as the regime has blocked humanitarian deliveries even amid unprecedented threats from COVID-19. The Assad regime has again proven incapable and unwilling to ensure the equitable distribution of humanitarian assistance across the country, instead blocking cross-line deliveries and diverting funds to its destructive campaign of violence against the Syrian people. In addition, due to widespread concerns about the independence of the UN Damascus operation, the UN must implement a robust accountability and transparency mechanism to ensure that no waste, fraud, abuse or corruption occurs with the use of relief funds, and to guarantee that no funds are being used to support the Syrian Government or its Russian and Iranian allies. However, there is more that the United States and its allies can do to ensure the timely and just distribution of humanitarian assistance to Syria’s most vulnerable populations. Should UN-backed authorizations for cross-border aid to northern Syria fail to be extended by the UN Security Council (UNSC), AFS calls on the U.S. government and its NATO ally Turkey to bilaterally execute direct aid deliveries to the displaced civilians of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, as well as to the Global-Coalition-held northeast. In the face of the global coronavirus pandemic, and with humanitarian conditions on the ground in northern Syria deteriorating, it is critical that the international community not let Russia and China inhibit the flow of needed aid to displaced civilians that have already endured nearly a decade of bombing, imprisonment and terror at the hands of the Assad regime. | 
