Syria Outmaneuvers 'West', Regains Legitimacy
July 14, 2023
Since 2014 the United Nations delivered humanitarian supplies to the al-Qaeda infested north-western 'rebel' region in Syria (marked green on the map below). A UN Security Council decision provided the necessary backing.
Coming from Turkey the UN convoys passed mostly through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, east of Hatay in south Turkey. The 'authorities' in the north-western area, i.e. al-Qaeda, used the distribution of the goods to keep control of the population.
After the February earth-quake the Syrian government opened two other crossings from Turkey. But most of the UN goods kept flowing through Bab al-Hawa.
The Syrian government has said that all goods should go through the territory its controls and not through Turkey. The terrorists in north-west have largely boycotted and blocked crossings from Syrian government controlled areas into their enclave.
Syria and the Russian Federation have insisted that the UN Security Council decision should be modified or ended and not renewed.
On Tuesday the new attempt for another renewal failed. Russia vetoed the 'western' supported resolution and proposed a different one which failed to gain the necessary quorum.
Without the authorization of the Security Council the UN had no legal way to continue the convoys. Today the Syrian government made a surprise move and offered its approval to keep Bab al-Hawa open for the UN convoys:
In a letter submitted to the United Nations and the Security Council, Syria said it would allow the United Nations access to the crossing for six months “in full cooperation and coordination” with the Syrian government.
...
The United Nations said on Thursday it was studying Syria’s letter and the potential effects on its aid delivery operations.“The coordination and cooperation with the U.N. has always been there and will be there,” Bassam al-Sabbagh, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters. He did not elaborate on requirements by his government, but said the U.N. should not work with “terrorists” in the north, an apparent reference to opposition groups that control the area.
The UN will not want to end the convoys. With this move the Syrian government will gain at least some control over the goods coming in and over their distribution.
Syria and Russia have thereby outmaneuvered the 'western' efforts to stay in control of the issue:
“Now President Assad has said he will open Bab Al-Hawa for six months. But without U.N. monitoring, control of this critical lifeline has been handed to the man responsible for the Syrian people’s suffering,” Barbara Woodward, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United Nations, who holds the monthly rotating presidency of the Council this month, said in a statement.
...
Andrew Tabler, the National Security Council’s former Syria director, called Syria’s decision a “checkmate from Moscow” for the United States and its allies, and another blow to the West’s Syria policy.
The Arab countries, which have recently made peace with the Syrian government they had long attempted to overthrow, will support Syria's move.
There is little the 'West' can do. To hold up the UN convoys under this or that excuse would certainly be seen as hypocrisy and revenge that has nothing to do with the convoys claimed humanitarian purposes for which they had argued all those years.
Not that they ever seriously meant that. Just consider this by the Council of the EU:
Syria: EU extends humanitarian exemption for another six months
On 23 February 2023, the Council introduced an additional humanitarian exemption into the sanctions regime in view of the situation in Syria to facilitate the speedy delivery of humanitarian assistance, following the devastating earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria.To continue responding in a timely manner to the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and to keep facilitating the rapid delivery of aid, the Council has decided to extend the duration of this humanitarian exemption for a further six months until 24 February 2024.
The exemption from the asset freeze and from the related prohibition on making funds and economic resources available to listed individuals and entities aims to further facilitate the operations of international organisations and certain defined categories of actors involved in humanitarian activities in Syria.
As Aaron Maté correctly points out:
Aaron Maté @aaronjmate - 13:48 UTC · Jul 14, 2023If you have to extend a “humanitarian exemption” in Syria for a fixed period of time, that confirms that you’re being anti-humanitarian in Syria every other time.
By keeping Bab al-Hawa open for the UN Syria will strengthen its global position. Syria, with the help of Russia, will likely continue to make diplomatic moves which will, slowly, slowly, enable it to regain a more normal standing in the world.