President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Salem Al-Meslet, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, stressing the need to extend the resolution on the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria and to stop Russia’s blackmail of the issue of humanitarian aid.
Al-Meslet stressed that the actions of the Assad regime and its enablers led to the largest humanitarian catastrophe the world has ever seen since the Second World War. He pointed out that human rights and security are an international issue as violating these constitutes a threat to international peace and security.
Al-Meslet added that the facts on the ground have already belied the Assad regime’s claims of its willingness to deliver aid through its areas. He said that the few shipments that the Assad regime allowed to pass were purely for propaganda purposes as they did not meet any of the needs of the recipients.
Al-Meslet pointed out that the United Nations cross-border aid operations in Syria meet all the basic conditions in terms of respecting the principles of humanity, neutrality, integrity and non-discrimination in the delivery of aid. He stressed that the approval of the parties that actually control the relief passage area is all that is required by law to provide assistance. In addition, the parties have no right to withhold consent except for legitimate reasons, and not for arbitrary reasons.
Moreover, Al-Meslet called for renewing the mandate for the cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid by extending UN Security Council Resolution 2642 of 2022, and looking for alternatives in case the resolution could not be extended.
He stressed the need to expand the scope of humanitarian assistance so as to meet the basic and emergency needs, especially in the areas of shelter, food, education, health and services.
Al-Meslet also called for supporting the political process to achieve a full political transition and implement Resolution 2254.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
