Syria Launches New Idlib Campaign - UN
Battle Over Control Of Aid For Syrians
By
Moon Of Alabama
December 21, 2019 "Information
Clearing House"
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The Syrian army
campaign to liberate the terrorist held
Idleb governorate was restarted yesterday.
The campaign had been halted
at the end of August
after ceasefire negotiations between Turkey
and Russia. Since then nearly a thousand
people have died on all sides around Idleb
during skirmishes, artillery attacks by
rebels on Aleppo city and Syrian and Russian
air strikes.
The
general aim of the re-launched campaign is
to liberate the cities Maarat al-Numan and
Saraqib and to gain control over the north
to south M5 highway between Hama and Aleppo.
bigger
The
currently most active front is in the
southeast of the territory where at least
two axes of attacks take place in the
direction of Maarat a-Numan, a city that
80,000 inhabitants when the war on Syria
started. The terrain is relatively flat and
allows to make good use of tanks.
bigger
The
ground campaign is supported by more than
100 aerial bombing runs per day and by heavy
artillery strikes.
The Syrian news
agency SANA
reports
first successes:
Syrian Arab Army’s units on Friday
cleared villages and farms of Um Jalal,
Rabe’a, Khreibah, Sh’aret al-Ajayz,
Barnan, and Um Twineh, Tal Mahoo, al-Fariha,
Bresa, and Tal al-Sheeh in Idleb
southeastern countryside after fierce
clashes with terrorist organizations,
inflicting heavy losses upon them.
...
The reporter indicated that that the
farms and villages which had been
cleared included basic headquarters for
the terrorist organizations used by them
to attack the safe areas and launch
rockets on people in Aleppo southeastern
countryside and Hama northern
countryside.
The Syrian
Observatory in Britain
confirmed
the progress. It further
reports
that at least 38 'rebels' were killed.
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Another fight
over Syria currently occurs at the United
Nations. The UN Security Council resolution
2165 is up for its yearly renewal. It
regulates
UN
humanitarian aid
access from third countries into various
areas of Syria that at some point were not
held by the Syrian government. Russia
wants that it is changed
to adopt to new circumstances especially in
the northeast of Syria.
We
have never been really enthusiastic
about such thing as cross-border
humanitarian operations, because it runs
counter to basic UN principles of
providing humanitarian assistance.
Nevertheless, we went for it, because we
had understanding that against the
background that existed in Syria, such
method of delivering humanitarian
assistance to those who needed it was
necessary. Now things have changed. The
government of Syria is in control of the
major part of the territory.
Humanitarian assistance is delivered as
per usual procedure – with consent of
Damascus. Out of four crossings for this
cross-border assistance, only two are
really used. We realize that there is a
part of Syrian population, in Idlib in
the first place, that still needs
humanitarian deliveries, which, among
other aspects, has to do with winter
that will come soon. Probably, at this
moment these so-called “cross-border
deliveries” are the easiest way those
who need aid can get it. Based on these
and other humanitarian considerations,
we have put forward our draft resolution
that proposes to extend this mechanism
for another 6-month term.
Russia is also concerned that the aid flows
to certain groups and not to those in need.
It wants the current UN aid crossings into
Syria's northeast to close down.
Parts of northeastern Syria are under
control of Turkey and parts are under U.S.
control with the help of the Kurdish YPG.
But most of the area is now held by Syrian
and Russian troops even while it continues
to be under administrative control of the
Kurds. The Syrian government wants to
pressure the YPG Kurds to give up their
control and to resubmit to the Syrian
government.
It
argues that aid to the area should flow
through Syrian government controlled
territory and should not come independently
through Turkey or Iraq. It wants the aid to
be distributed by the UN itself or through
Syrian organizations and not through the
illegitimate Kurdish administration which
uses it to control the population.
Germany, Belgium and Kuwait, who wrote the
current R2449 draft which is supposed to
replace R2165, even want to open an
additional fifth border crossing point from
Turkey into the area. They rejected the
Russian demands. Russia then threatened to
veto the renewal of the resolution.
The Zionist
lobby
wants the
U.S. to withdraw its share of financing of
the UN aid and to give it to "international
NGOs that are not registered in Damascus" or
to "capable local partners in non-regime
areas" - i.e the terrorist in Idleb and the
YPG.
What's In Blue
detailed
the development of the discussion throughout
the last weeks. The Security Council was
meeting yesterday
to be briefed about Syria. While it was
supposed to vote on the renewal the
press release
at the UN site only reports of a discussion.
The
decision on the issue was presumably
postponed. The renewal of R2165 will be
redrafted and a compromise may come up for a
vote later today.
This article was originally published by "Moon
Of Alabama"
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