For Syria, aid is ‘too little, too late’
POLITICOFeb 13, 2023
Following an agreement between the Syrian government and the UN regarding the opening of two additional border crossings from Turkey into opposition-held northwest Syria earlier this week, 11 trucks crossed into the region on Tuesday to deliver aid to the millions of victims of last week's earthquakes.
The two new crossing points at Bab al-Salameh, the crossing used on Tuesday, and al-Raee will be open for an initial period of three months. Before the agreement, the UN was only able to deliver aid via the Bab al-Hawa crossing between Turkey and Idlib.
Though the opening of more aid corridors is always a positive development, it should have happened far sooner. Indeed, if it were not for Russian interference, more cross-border aid deliveries could have been made before the earthquakes even struck the area. Ultimately, however, the US itself is not innocent either, as it has systematically failed the Syrian people at every turn.
Though the Western media try to blame the Syrian government and Russia for the lack of aid to opposition-held areas, it is the opposition itself that is stopping aid delivery. The West has waged a long and dirty war against Syria using its jihadist proxies, who are now preventing aid from government-held areas from entering the regions that they control. Damascus has always been willing to help its own people.