Syria.- Unilateral US sanctions. against Syria hinder the arrival of humanitarian assistance to the country after the powerful earthquakes last Monday, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee denounced on Tuesday, quoted by Al Jazeera.
“The lifting of sanctions will open the doors for additional and supplementary aid that will provide immediate relief to those in need,” the human rights organization stressed.
From the UN they also highlighted the difficulty of providing aid to the country’s territories that have suffered the devastating consequences of the tremors.
“We know that the quake has mainly affected the northern part of Syria. Many territories are disputed. Many territories are under opposition control. It will be a challenge to get there. This is a country that has suffered 11 years of war. The infrastructure damaged,” said United Nations humanitarian coordinator Jens Laerke.
The official added that “it is very important to put politics aside” and “consider this as a strictly humanitarian issue.” “This is about saving lives,” he concluded.
For his part, the president of the Syrian Red Crescent, Khaled Hboubati, on Tuesday called on the European Union to lift its sanctions against Syria to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected areas. In his words, the restrictive measures aggravate “the difficult humanitarian situation.” “There is not even fuel to send convoys [de ayuda] and that is due to the blockade and sanctions,” he said.
The Syrian Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, expressed himself in the same vein, lamenting that “sanctions against Syria further aggravated the disaster.”
In an interview with the Al Mayadeen channel, the official stressed that “US sanctions prevent Syria from accessing anything, including medicines,” and recalled that humanitarian aid “is not subject to sanctions, in accordance with international law”.
Western reaction
Washington is “a partner for the people of Syria,” but working with the government of Bashar al Assad would be “ironic, if not counterproductive,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.
“We have humanitarian partners on the ground who can provide the kind of assistance after these tragic earthquakes,” Price said, accusing Damascus of failing to “put the welfare, prosperity and interests of its people first.”
For its part, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office and the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth) said that “the sanctions regime was put in place in response to human rights violations and other abuses by the regime and its accomplices.” .
In turn, the spokesman for the European Commission, Balazs Ujvari, said that the EU delivered humanitarian aid through its partners in the UN, as well as non-governmental organizations.
Dispatch of International Assistance
Meanwhile, more than 300 Russian military personnel and 60 units of specialized equipment were deployed to Syria on Monday to help remove rubble, rescue quake victims and provide assistance.
