March 30, 2021 (EIRNS)–The UN Security Council held its monthly meeting on Syria yesterday, focusing heavily on the humanitarian situation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chaired the virtual meeting, delivered a statement about the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria without once referring to the economic sanctions that the US and its European allies have imposed on the country that have worsened living conditions for millions of Syrians. \u00abWhile today\u2019s session is focused on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, it\u2019s important to note that the only long-term solution to this suffering is through a political settlement and permanent resolution to the conflict, as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2254,\u00bb Blinken said, \u00abBut even as we work to that solution, we can\u2019t lose sight of the urgent needs of the Syrian people that we\u2019ve heard described so eloquently today. It\u2019s clear that these needs \u2013 including having enough to eat and access to essential medicine \u2013 are not going to be met by the Assad regime.\u00bb
Blinken followed this posturing with the demand that the UNSC authorize the opening of two border crossings in the northeast and northwest into areas of the country that are not under the control of the government. \u00abWe have a responsibility to ensure Syrians have access to lifesaving assistance, no matter where they live,\u00bb he said. \u00abGiven that goal, there was no good reason at the time for the council\u2019s failure to reauthorize these two humanitarian crossings.\u00bb
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, who delivered the Russian response, minced no words about the roles of the US and Turkish occupying forces in creating the current conditions that prevail in all parts of Syria. \u00abIt is paradoxical, yet true — a significant deterioration in the life of the Syrian population has been observed precisely within the past year, when a significant reduction in violence was achieved on the ground,\u00bb Vershinin stressed, reported TASS. He also drew attention to the fact that \u00abthe most difficult situation is developing in the regions not under the control of Damascus in the northwest, north and northeast of Syria, the responsibility for which, let me reiterate, is with the de-facto occupying countries and local authorities.\u00bb
Vershinin accused Western powers of openly discriminating against the areas of the country controlled by Damascus, including with respect to deliveries of humanitarian supplies, the return of refugees, and efforts to control the COVID19 pandemic. \u00abIt is done in a bid to undermine Syria\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity, due to political motives,\u00bb he said.
Then there\u2019s the matter of unilateral US and European sanctions, which are greatly hindering the economic reconstruction of Syria. \u00abThe reaction of Washington and Brussels to the call of the UN secretary general to ease and lift unilateral sanctions amid the coronavirus pandemic was, on the contrary, to tighten in an unprecedented way the restrictions adopted bypassing the UN Security Council, including the introduction of the infamous Caesar Act in June 2020,\u00bb Vershinin said. \u00abUnfortunately, the honorable representative of the US and other Western colleagues spoke about a lot of things in today\u2019s speeches but for the US and EU sanctions and their dramatic negative effect on ordinary Syrians.\u00bb
Vershinin also pointed out the US looting of Syrian oil and wheat. \u00abReports continue to come in that American convoys are trucking out oil and grain from Syria to Iraq daily. The information [we] receive suggests that 300 oil tank trucks and more than 200 cargo trucks with grain had crossed the Syrian-Iraqi border by March 23 since the beginning of the month,\u00bb he said. \u00abIt turns out while Syrians are suffering from acute shortage of basic products, including bread and petrol, a wide stream of Syria\u2019s smuggled natural resources is flowing from the Trans-Euphrates region controlled by the US, while the country is simultaneously suffocated with unilateral sanctions which essentially are a form of collective punishment,\u00bb he underlined.
Prior to the US and Russian (and other) statements, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock reported that the need for aid has jumped 20% from last year and humanitarian organizations coordinated by the U.N. are seeking an estimated $4.2 billion to reach 12.3 million Syrians inside the country. He said another $5.8 billion is required for support to countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region. \u00abWe need more money, not less, if we are to avoid a further deterioration \u2014 the consequences of which could be dramatic and widespread,\u00bb Lowcock said.
Henrietta Fore, head of the U.N. children\u2019s agency, UNICEF, said Syria\u2019s worst economic crisis is \u00abplunging 90% of the population into poverty, and across the country nearly 90% of children now require humanitarian assistance.\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
March 30, 2021 (EIRNS)–The UN Security Council held its monthly meeting on Syria yesterday, focusing heavily on the humanitarian situation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chaired the virtual meeting, delivered a statement about the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria without once referring to the economic sanctions that the US and its European allies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":71491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[633,505,508,639,660,641,33],"tags":[842],"class_list":["post-71490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-color-revolutions","category-updates","category-updates-geopolitics","category-global-diplomacy","category-russia","category-united-states","category-updates-war","tag-lang-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71501,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71490\/revisions\/71501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}