World Needs to Initiate More Effective Policy against Damascus Regime

World Needs to Initiate More Effective Policy against Damascus Regime

International and Arab News

On July 12, the United Nations’ Security Council passed Resolution 2642 – giving the UN a new mandate to provide cross-border humanitarian aid to northwestern Syria for a period of six months.

The resolution was described as a compromise between the international community and Russia, but in truth, it was the result of a capitulation to Russia’s aggressive veto power. A six-month timeframe gives donor governments, the UN and implementing bodies little time to focus on aid delivery before diplomats will have to begin bracing themselves for a renewed battle with Russia in the halls of the UN, to secure aid access once again.

Moscow has the world right where it wants them to be: on edge and vulnerable.

The greatest victims here, as has so often been the case, are Syrian civilians – at least 4.5 million of whom live in Syria’s northwest. Eighty percent of those 4.5 million civilians are women and children; and at least 70% of them are displaced. Over 90% of the 4.5 million are wholly dependent on UN aid coming via Turkey in a mammoth effort that delivers as many as 1,000 trucks of aid per month.

Russia’s demand at the UN – shared by