Activists and humanitarian workers in the liberated areas warned of a humanitarian disaster after relief organizations announced they were suspending their activities in rural Hama and Idlib as a result of the Assad regime and Russian military escalation.
Some 15 aid organizations, including the UN World Food Program, have recently suspended their activities due to the damage their headquarters suffered in the ongoing bombing campaign. Other organizations announced they were stopping their activities until further notice for the safety of workers.
In a statement to the Arabi 21 news website, a relief official in Idlib accused the United Nations of collusion with Russia and putting pressure on the local population by suspending relief aid to northern Syria.
The official added that organizations should step up their support in these critical times, especially for the thousands of people who were displaced by the bombing campaign. He noted that the small organizations still operating in crowded areas may suspend their activities due to the cessation of support.
The organizations that are still operating rely on its stockpiles of relief aid, the official said, adding that these “stocks are being rapidly depleted, which will have dire consequences for thousands of displaced persons in the region.”
Mudar Hammad al-Asa’ad, the Executive Director of the Syrian Association for the Rights of Refugees, said that the suspension of relief aid in Syria’s north is a continuation of the siege imposed on the Syrian people in the liberated areas.
The Syrian Coalition earlier warned of the consequences of the suspension of the relief efforts in the liberated areas, stressing that the international community will bear full responsibility for any possible humanitarian disasters that may result from the cessation of relief work.
The World Food Program announced the suspension of the distribution of aid to around 47,000 people in the towns and villages in southern and western rural Idlib as a result of the ongoing bombing campaign, explaining that some local partners were displaced and others were injured. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
