Syria – Displaced in northern Syria fear possible crossing closure for aid

Location: liberated areas, Syria

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:04:38

Voice: Natural

Source: A24 northern Syria

Restriction: A24 subscribers

Date: 25/06/2022

Storyline:

Displaced people of the liberated areas on the northern Syrian border with Turkey fear closure of crossing for humanitarian aid as the UN Security Council is set to renew Resolution 2585/2021 on the entry of aid next July. Russia is threatening to veto the renewal and impose restrictions on aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border, saying that the entry of former aid trucks into opposition-controlled areas through the regime was successful. According to the data, the UN offices in Turkey are likely to close if the extension of the decision is refused. Many of the displaced stressed that aid coming from Bab al-Hawa is the main source of living for more than four million displaced people and residents of the area.

Shot list:

SOUNDBITE (Muhammad Mawas – a displaced from Idlib countryside):

“We have been hearing recently about the possibility of closing the United Nations offices in Turkey, which is responsible for the implementation of UN Resolution 2585 on humanitarian aid entry across the border. Russia provoked the cancellation of the decision. Closing Bab al-Hawa crossing for aid means that life has stopped for people in liberated areas. We do not accept receiving aid across the borders of the criminal regime that has killed our people and displaced our children.”

SOUNDBITE (Muhammad Mawas – a displaced from Idlib countryside):

“Food baskets we receive are the backbone of liberated areas. It helps people endure hard living conditions. The regime that killed us and destroyed our lives will not provide us with assistance.”

SOUNDBITE (Muhammad Yazan Al-Ali – Director of a camp for the displaced):

“I am the director of one of the displacement camps in the al-Ghab area in the liberated north of Syria. There are about three hundred families living in this camp; all of which benefit from the United Nations aid. If the Bab al-Hawa crossing is closed and aid is controlled by the regime, we will face a real catastrophe. We receive all kinds of aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.”

SOUNDBITE (Mazen Alloush – Public Relations Officer at Bab Al-Hawa Crossing):

“Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only crossing through which the aid coming from the United Nations enters for the displaced and residents in the liberated areas, whether in the Idlib region or the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas. Since the renewal of the aid entry mechanism last year, about seven thousand Five hundred trucks entered the area loaded with one hundred and eighty thousand tons of relief supplies. Two-thirds of which are food, and the rest is logistical, medical, and other types of aid. If the resolution was not renewed next July, people in liberated areas will face an alarming humanitarian and economic disaster. About four million and three hundred thousand citizens benefit from this aid, including about one and a half million people displaced as a result of the Russian crimes committed in the country, specifically the northern countryside of Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib. I would like to point out that the aid that comes across the borders with the regime’s areas is insufficient and does not even cover the needs of one camp in the area. Over the past few months, only seventy trucks have entered the camps. As for the Bab al-Hawa crossing, about ninety trucks enter daily and are not even enough to cover the area’s needs.”