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Foreign aid in northeast Syria fully halted: Kurds
QAMISHLI, Syria, Oct 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The week-old Turkish invasion of
northeastern Syria has forced all international non-governmental
organisations to leave the area, a statement from the Kurdish authorities
said Tuesday.
“The humanitarian plight of the displaced in areas targeted by the
aggression has worsened with all humanitarian aid being cut and all
international organisations ceasing their activities,” the statement said.
Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies launched a cross-border operation on
Wednesday against Syrian Kurdish fighters on the other side of the frontier.
Almost a week of deadly bombardment and fighting has killed dozens of
civilians, mostly on the Kurdish side, and prompted at least 160,000 to flee
their homes.
On Monday, international non-governmental organisation Mercy Corps said it
was suspending its operations in the area and evacuating international staff.
“We just cannot effectively operate with the heavy shelling, roads closing,
and the various and constantly changing armed actors in the areas where we
are working,” said Made Ferguson, Mercy Corps’ deputy country director for
Syria.
“This is our nightmare scenario. There are tens of thousands of people on
the run and we have no way of getting to them,” he said.
Mercy Corps says it has been operating in northeastern Syria since 2014,
and helping with emergency relief efforts including providing fresh water
since the start of the Turkish invasion.
The organisation would be exploring alternative options to deliver aid to
those in need, Ferguson said.
On Monday, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said “more NGO staff had to
withdraw and suspend operations”.
“As of 14 October, international staff of cross-border NGOs are primarily
relocating to Arbil and Dohuk in Iraq,” it said.
“The United Nations and its partners remain extremely concerned about the
safety and security of all of their — hundreds of — Syrian staff,” OCHA
said.
The World Food Programme said its operations were ongoing.
“We are continuing to send emergency food supplies as well as the food we
usually send each food,” the UN agency’s spokesman Herve Verhoosel said,
despite a few security concerns.
The UN children’s fund UNICEF was also continuing to work in camps in
Hassakeh province, a spokeswoman said.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said it had assisted more than 30,000 people
since the start of the escalation, but had no access since Tuesday to a camp
for the displaced in Ain Issa.
The Kurds said around 800 relatives of Islamic State group fighters have
escaped the camp after Turkish bombardment nearby, but Ankara claims they
were freed.
The Kurds have been a key US ally in fighting IS in Syria, and run camps
for the displaced in areas they control housing tens of thousands of people
including alleged IS family members.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1738 hrs