​​​​​​​AANES calls upon international community to re-open Tel Kocher border crossing

In north and east Syria, there are more than 1 million IDPs and refugees living within 15 official camps, who have not received humanitarian assistance from the United Nations and relief organizations since mid-2019, following the Russian-Chinese veto, the closure of the Tel Kocher crossing, and the United Nations has dealt with the Damascus Government, which is confiscating such assistance and did not give them small part of their needs.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is responsible for ensuring the living needs of IDPs and refugees who were forcibly displaced.

However, the Russian-Chinese veto prevented humanitarian access to areas of north and east Syria through the Tel Kocher crossing in late 2019. Russia did not object to the entry of aid into the areas occupied by the Turkish occupying state and its mercenaries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, with the aim of subjecting areas of north and east Syria to the Damascus Government.

On June 7^th, 2020, the Security Council failed to adopt a draft resolution renewing the delegation of cross-border humanitarian access to north and east Syria, after Russia and China objected to the draft resolution submitted by Belgium and Germany.

At the time, the Belgian ambassador, Marc Pesstein de Bitswerve, said that Belgium and Germany had striven to reach consensus on purely humanitarian grounds. The European States had also tried to reopen the Tel Kocher /Al-Yarubiyah border crossing in view of the humanitarian situation under COVID-19 and in the context of calls by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, for greater access across the front lines and across the border in north-east of Syria.

Deputy co-chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Department for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Abeer Elia, explained to ANHA agency that the closure of Tel Kocher / Al-Yarubiyah border crossing at Vito Rossi-China had several negative implications for north and east Syria: saying "Some 5 million people live within the region, and we are experiencing an economic crisis."

Abeer Elia pointed out that: " Tel Kocher border crossing is the main cross for entering the aids and medical assistance to the region, in which several camps are existed that house IDPs and refugees, some of them fled from Turkish occupied areas, and others include children and ISIS families as al-Hol and Roj Camps, all these camps need to humanitarian and medical assistance from the international community and international relief organizations.”

Abeer Elia explained that the economic situation in north and east Syria had deteriorated following the imposition of sanctions on the Damascus Government according to “Caesar Law”: "the people of the north and east regions of Syria are dealing in national currency (Syrian lira), and the imposition of sanctions on Damascus Government has led to the deterioration of the living situation in the north and east of Syria."

We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe

Abeer Elia said that the closure of the Tel Kocher border crossing greatly affected health realities in the region, particularly after the outbreak of COVID19: " we are now facing a humanitarian catastrophe, as we suffer from a severe shortage of supplies and needs in the fight against the epidemic, which we need to secure. We are now missing the laboratory material that reveals corona virus infection, and this has serious implications for the people of the region. "

Abeer Elia drew attention to the fact that the closure of the Tel Kocher crossing had other security and stability implications and pointed out: "The people need to make a living and seek to secure it in all possible ways. ISIS is trying to take advantage of this low living situation in the region and reorganize its ranks by buying money."

Abeer Elia went on to say: "Tel-Kocher crossing is closed, in return for the opening of the Bab al-Hawa crossing, which is controlled by terrorist factions and Jabhet al-Nusra," and noted that they have always sent a message to the international community and the delegations they meet: "Why are those who have provided martyrs, and who have contributed to the spread of security and stability in this area, punished in this way (i.e. through the closure of the Tel Kocher crossing)? Terrorist factions are rewarded by the opening of the Bab al-Hawa crossing. "

This, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting late this year to discuss the mechanism for opening border crossings in Syria, and Abeer Elia has called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to work towards opening the Tel Kocher border crossing and bringing humanitarian assistance to areas of north and east Syria. She said: "because it is the only crossing point through which humanitarian assistance enters areas directly north and east of Syria."

T/S

ANHA