U.S., Russia Agree Life Has Gotten Worse for Syrians, But Blame Each Other
Tom
23 hours ago (30 March 2021)
The United States and Russia both bemoaned a worsening
humanitarian crisis over the past year in Syria, but ultimately blamed one
another for fueling the deterioration in the country's living conditions during
a United Nations session on Monday.
© DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images A Syrian boy looks at Russian and
U.S. military vehicles in the northeastern Syrian town of Al-Malikiyah, also
called Derik, at the border with Turkey, on June 3, 2020. Russia has backed the
Syrian government since 2015, around the same time the U.S. began to abandon
support for the insurgency in a bid to back a mostly Kurdish group known as the
Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS.
Citing U.N. figures, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a virtual U.N.
Security Council that "13.4 million people—two in every three Syrians—are
in need of humanitarian assistance" and "12.4 million people in Syria
are food insecure."
He then accused the Syrian government of targeting a
hospital last week and its top military partner, Russia, of having struck that
same day "near the only U.N.-authorized border crossing with Syria,
killing a civilian, destroying humanitarian supplies, putting the most
effective way of getting aid to the Syrian people at risk."
Blinken argued that the needs of the Syrian people
could not be met by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and urged the U.N. Security
Council to immediately reopen two additional border crossings. Both were closed
last July after a resolution failed to pass due to vetoes from fellow permanent
members Russia and China, who argued the moves violated the Syrian government's
right to control its own international boundaries.
"Some may argue that reauthorizing humanitarian
crossings and providing cross-border aid would in some way infringe on the
sovereignty of the Syrian regime," Blinken said Monday. "But
sovereignty was never intended to ensure the right of any government to starve
people, deprive them of lifesaving medicine, bomb hospitals, or commit any
other human rights abuse against citizens."
The vetoes from Moscow and Beijing last summer came
shortly after Washington passed a set of intensive sanctions geared toward putting
pressure on Assad's administration for alleged human rights abuses. In his
remarks Monday, however, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin
argued these restrictions were not only unlawful but had a "dramatic
negative impact on Syrians themselves" as well as international agencies.
He also claimed to have received information
"that American convoys carry oil and grain out of Syria into Iraq, every
day."
"It's clear that while Syria is suffering from a
severe lack of goods, including bread and oil," Vershinin argued,
"there's a tide of contraband of Syrian natural resources leaving the
U.S.-controlled area beyond the Euphrates and, in parallel, there's an economic
suffocation of the country as a result of unilateral sanctions, which is a form
of collective punishment."
As for the border crossings, Vershinin noted that they
were located in northern, northwestern and northeastern territories outside of
the control of the Syrian government, so responsibility "is borne by the
de facto occupiers of the country and the local authorities." Groups in
the northwest, he pointed out, include the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Hurras
al-Deen militant organizations.
In the south, where the Al-Rukhban refugee camp exists
in a 55-square-kilometer (21-square-mile) zone controlled by the U.S. military and partnered rebel groups
around the Al-Tanf garrison, Vershinin criticized "Washington strange
logic" that "assistance should be provided from Damascus but not
across the border with Iraq, which is the direct and swiftest route."
The U.S. military also conducts operations against the
Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in neighboring
Iraq, but the route from Iraq to Al-Tanf, according to Vershinin, "is used
to supply the American base" at Al-Tanf rather than the local population.
Washington and Moscow are both active against ISIS in
Syria, but have waged separate campaigns with divergent goals.
The U.S. sponsored efforts to oust Assad in the early
years of the civil war that erupted between the government and opposition
forces a decade ago. But as the conflict evolved, it shifted its focus against
ISIS in 2014 and began backing a mostly Kurdish militia known as the Syrian
Democratic Forces in 2015. Today this group holds much of northeastern Syria.
Also in 2015, Russia joined the war in support of the
Syrian government, and that support has allowed Assad and his allies, including
militias backed by Iran, to regain control of much of the country. Stretches
across the north and northwest, especially Idlib province, remain in the hands
of insurgents, including Turkey-backed rebels and jihadi groups.
While the conflict calmed somewhat over the past year
as a result of fragile ceasefires negotiated between Moscow and Ankara, the
economic crisis deepened as neighboring Lebanon entered a financial meltdown
and both countries were caught in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. A
U.N.-backed peace process backed largely by Russia, Turkey and Iran struggled
to establish a political solution, and Syria's humanitarian conditions continue
to decline.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who served as vice president when
the U.S. began backing rebel groups in Syria, has also backed a political
solution to the decade-long conflict, but has accused Moscow of disrupting
efforts to find peace in an effort to improve Damascus' leverage in talks.
"The extremely dire crisis and humanitarian
crisis in Syria is really a direct result of that political impasse and the
continued blocking of life-saving assistance by the Assad regime, their
systemic corruption and importantly their economic mismanagement," U.S.
Bureau of International Organization Affairs Senior Bureau Official Erica
Barks-Ruggles told a press briefing Friday, "and it's imperative for the
regime and its supporters to engage seriously in a political dialogue."
But Moscow argues that Washington and its Western
allies represent a barrier to reconciliation and reconstruction as a result of
their political, economic and military policies.
"We sincerely hope that the new administration
will try to rethink previous strategies on Syria," the Russian embassy in
Washington told Newsweek earlier
this month. "It is important to cease the cruel sanction campaign against
the Syrian people and put an end to illegal military presence in the Arab
Republic."
The embassy also raised the possibility of
collaboration with the U.S., but only "in providing humanitarian
assistance to those in need, countering terrorism and pushing forward political
process with a common goal to achieve peace."
© ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows following reported
Russian air strikes on the outskirts of Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of
Idlib, on March 29. Russian and Syrian jets continue to bomb positions held by
rebel and jihadi groups they consider terrorist organizations. ABDULAZIZ
KETAZ/AFP/Getty Images
China, a strategic partner of Russia, also weighed in
on the war in Syria during Monday's U.N. Security Council session, with
Beijing's representative echoing a number of Moscow's positions.
"Ten years of protected conflict in Syria have
brought untold suffering to the country and its people, many issues in the
current situation in the country warrant deep reflections," Chinese
permanent representative to the U.N. Zhang Jun said. "The facts have
proven time and time again that the respect for national sovereignty and territorial
integrity is an international norm that must be upheld."
He argued that "a political solution is the only
viable way to address hotspot issues" and railed against any uninvited
efforts to direct events within Syria from abroad.
"Supporting the path of development chosen by the
people of the world that suits their conditions is the fundamental way,"
he said. "Regime change is not an option, nor will it work. Unilateral
sanctions can only aggravate the situation. External military interference can
only cause greater disasters and serious consequences."
The answer, Zhang said, is for the international
community to "adopt a holistic approach integrating political, security,
economic and humanitarian aspects to jointly promote peace security and
development."
Syria, already suffering mass shortages of resources,
has been forced to ration fuel recently as a result of the recent, days-long
blockage of the Suez Canal by an errant container ship. Iran has reportedly
used the strategic route connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean to supply
Syria with oil, though the U.S. and European Union have sought to block such
shipments they consider to be violations of their sanctions against Damascus.
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