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19Jan16
Letter from Syria regarding the humanitarian relief operations being conducted by Syria in cooperation with UN agencies and the ICRC
Back to topUnited Nations
Security CouncilS/2016/41
Distr.: General
19 January 2016
English
Original: ArabicIdentical letters dated 15 January 2016 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council
On instructions from my Government and in view of the media tumult over the past two days regarding the situation of humanitarian and relief work in the Syrian Arab Republic, I should like to apprise you of the humanitarian relief operations being conducted by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in cooperation and coordination with United Nations organizations and specialized agencies operating in Damascus and with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Certain towns, villages and regions in a number of Syrian governorates have been placed under a harrowing siege by armed terrorist groups that receive funds, weapons, materiel and recruits from several States in the region and beyond, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The sieges are inhumane, to say the very least. They reflect the blind rage, hatred and vile extremism of such repulsive terrorist groups as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Nusrah Front, in addition to a number of terrorist and criminal groups, gangs, organizations and entities associated or affiliated with the terrorist organization Al-Qaida, including Army of Conquest, the so-called Army of Islam, the Nur al-Din al-Zanki battalion, the Islamic Front, Liwa' al-Tawhid, the Badr Martyrs Brigade, the Emigrants Brigade, Northern Shield, among so many others. The terrorists come from over one hundred countries, including France, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Qatar and Turkey. They are protected by the trinity of sponsors of international terrorism, namely, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, and by intelligence agencies from outside the region. They benefit from official and unofficial propaganda in the media, which heap praise on the acts of terrorism committed by criminals in Syria. The groups also have illegal trade links with States in the region, particularly the Erdogan regime in Turkey and its senior figures. Such links are used to plunder the wealth and resources of the Syrian people.
Syrian civilians are besieged by armed terrorist groups in Dayr al-Zawr, Raqqah, Idlib and Aleppo; in Madaya, Zabadani, Bludan and Buqayn in Rif Dimashq governorate; in Fu'ah and Kafraya in Idlib governorate; in Nubul and Zahra' in Aleppo governorate; and in Tadmur (Palmyra), in Homs governorate. The same was true of the Wa'r neighbourhood and the old city of Homs, in Homs governorate, before the national reconciliation agreement was enacted. In all of those places, civilians have undergone considerable hardship. They have borne the brunt of terrorism the clutches of the armed terrorist groups, which have used them as hostages, or indeed as human shields to keep counter-terrorism forces at bay. In other cases, the terrorist groups have used the civilians as a source of funds, selling them food and medicine at exorbitant prices. Their State sponsors, which are given to holding forth endlessly about democracy and human rights, have kept a chilling silence about such practices.
The armed terrorist groups have demonstrated their mastery of various forms of siege. In some cases, when unable to enter cities, they have laid siege from without. This has happened, for instance, in Dayr al-Zawr. In other cases, in the cities and towns where they are based, they have imposed a siege from within. One example of this approach is the town of Madaya. In either case, the result is the same: hunger, thirst, fear, terror, repression, hardship and crime against civilians. All the while, the world has remained silent about the actions of the trinity of international terrorism, namely, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, which are assisted by certain States members of the Security Council.
In that connection, I wish to address the agreement concerning the towns of Madaya and Zabadani in Rif Dimashq governorate and the towns of Fu'ah and Kafraya in Idlib governorate, all of which are surrounded by armed terrorist groups.
- After lengthy and exhausting negotiations, in which the offices of the Special Envoy for Syria and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Damascus took part, an agreement was reached for humanitarian and relief assistance to be delivered to the four towns.
- On 10 October 2015, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic informed the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Damascus that it approved the agreement. It did so because of its legal and constitutional duty to protect its innocent, peaceful citizens who were besieged in those towns by the armed terrorist groups. The agreement states that the terrorists should leave Zabadani and Bludan, and that sick and wounded people requiring urgent attention should be evacuated from the four towns to receive the necessary health care. It provides for United Nations guarantees, in cooperation and coordination with ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
- The following actions have been taken in implementation of the agreement:
1. On 18 October 2015, the first instalment of humanitarian and relief assistance was delivered to the four towns. The process was arduous and complicated. The Turkish Government stopped trucks laden with humanitarian assistance from crossing from Turkey into Syrian territory. It kept the trucks in the open countryside under adverse weather conditions for over ten days, during which time some of the supplies spoiled. The Turkish authorities also removed some of the cargo. The remaining assistance on the trucks entered Syrian territory bound for Fu'ah and Kafraya, where some of it was looted by the armed terrorist groups laying siege to the two towns.
2. On 21 December 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates informed the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Damascus that it approved the request made by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O'Brien, for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to a number of towns and regions of Syria.
3. On 27 December 2015, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic sent a memorandum to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Damascus requesting the delivery of assistance, including medical supplies and fuel, to the towns of Madaya, Fu'ah and Kafraya. The request went unanswered.
4. On 28 December 2015, groups of terrorists left Zabadani and Madaya for Lebanon and Idlib governorate, their chosen destinations. From there, most left for Turkey.
5. On 8 January 2016, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Damascus sent a memorandum to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants requesting the delivery of various forms of assistance to the four towns. The resident coordinator's memorandum made no reference to the aforementioned memorandum from the Ministry.
6. On 9 January 2016, the Ministry informed the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that it approved the joint request of UNICEF and the World Food Programme for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Madaya, Fu'ah and Kafraya, which were surrounded by armed terrorist groups. The assistance was to be handed over by a branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in cooperation and coordination with the high commission for relief.
7. On the same date, the Ministry informed ICRC that it had approved the latter's request for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Madaya, Zabadani, Fu'ah and Kafraya.
8. On 11 January 2016, an instalment of food, relief and medical supplies was delivered to the four towns. The instalment was sufficient for 40,000 people in Madaya and Zabadani and 20,000 people in Fu'ah and Kafraya.
9. On 11 January 2016, the Ministry denounced the actions of armed terrorist groups, which had detained a humanitarian convoy bound for Fu'ah and Kafraya while it was passing the city of Idlib. The groups unloaded the cargo near Idlib city and searched the trucks. They then removed the diesel, leaving only enough for the trucks to reach Fu'ah and Kafraya. The first aid cases were also forcibly removed from the trucks.
10. On 14 January 2016, a third instalment of food, relief and medical supplies was delivered to the four towns. The instalment was sufficient for 40,000 people in Madaya and Zabadani and 20,000 people in Fu'ah and Kafraya.
11. On 14 January 2016, the Resident Coordinator informed the Ministry that he and the head of the office of the Special Envoy had intervened with the armed terrorist groups in Idlib to resolve difficulties, and that an aid convoy had been allowed to continue on its way to the towns of Fu'ah and Kafraya.
- To date, three instalments of food, relief and medical assistance have been delivered to the four towns, each of them sufficient for 40,000 people in Madaya and Zabadani and 20,000 people in Fu'ah and Kafraya.
We enclose herewith lists of the cargo of the two most recent convoys, which were delivered to civil society committees in the town of Madaya in Rif Dimashq governorate and Fu'ah and Kafraya in Idlib governorate. The assistance is delivered with the knowledge of the United Nations (see annex).
The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is surprised at the campaign of media misinformation regarding the humanitarian situation in Madaya. This narrative turns a blind eye to the difficult conditions which Syrian civilians face in other regions, such as Dayr al-Zawr, Raqqah, Idlib and Aleppo, and the towns of Fu'ah Kafraya in Idlib governorate and Nubul and Zahra' in Aleppo governorate.
The media campaign has fabricated and distorted the events. The recent stories broadcast by Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera are perhaps the most prominent examples of those networks' media terrorism. They took a seven-year-old girl from the Lebanese town of Tayr, Mariana Yusuf, and made her into a Syrian girl living in Madaya and going hungry under siege. In 2014, they had cast the same girl as a beautiful Syrian refugee selling chewing gum in Za'tari camp, in northern Jordan. At the same time, the two networks kept their cameras and correspondents well clear of the 16-month-old toddler Fatimah Nur al-Din, who died for want of food and medicine as a result of the armed terrorist groups' siege of Fu'ah and Kafraya.
The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic stresses that the terrorist attacks that have been taking place for more than four years in the cities and villages of Syria, along with unilateral coercive economic measures, are the cause of the country's humanitarian crisis. Those factors have also prolonged the crisis, the effects of which have been felt in various aspects of daily life in Syria. That humanitarian crisis continues only because of the funds, arms and ammunition that are openly provided by such States as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are partners in the terrorist crimes committed against the Syrian people. Such support is in brazen defiance of the Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism, including resolutions 2170 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015). Moreover, the permanent members of the Security Council continue to prevent the Council from condemning such terrorist crimes. By adopting such a position, those members encourage the terrorists to continue committing acts of terrorism and they demonstrate their lack of seriousness regarding counter-terrorism.
The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates that it continues to fulfil its duties towards the country's citizens. It also continues to carry out the humanitarian work in which it has been engaged throughout the Syrian crisis, which began almost five years ago. The Government affirms that it continues to cooperate and coordinate with United Nations organizations and international organizations in order to strengthen humanitarian work and deliver food, aid and medical assistance to all Syrian citizens and other affected persons, without discrimination or distinction.
The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic calls on the Security Council to condemn the crimes committed by armed terrorist groups in Syria. It furthermore calls on the Council to fulfil its responsibility to take preventive measures against those States that support terrorism, in order to preserve security and peace in the region and around the world.
I should be grateful if the present letter and its annex could be issued as a document of the Security Council.
(Signed) Mounzer Mounzer
Chargé d'affaires a.i.
Annex to the identical letters dated 15 January 2016 from the Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council
[Original: Arabic/English]
Material delivered to Madaya on 11 January 2016
Agency Volume (cubic metres) Weight (tons) Unit type No. of units Commodity Final destination World Food Programme (WFP) 396 251 Carton 7 800 Food rations Madaya United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 1.44 0.19 Pack 2 600 Multiple micronutrient powder, sachet/PAC-30 Madaya UNICEF 8 3.25 Carton 250 Fortified spread, pot 325 g/CAR-36 Madaya UNICEF 1.5 0.6 Carton 40 Supplementary spread, sachet 92 g/CAR-150 Madaya UNICEF 0.2 0.07 Pack 100 Micronutrient tablets, pregnancy/PAC-1000 Madaya UNICEF 0.05 0.018 Pack 50 Fe (as fumarate) + folic 60 + 0.4 mg tablet/PAC-1000 Madaya UNICEF 0.5 0.296 Carton 20 Therapeutic spread, sachet 92 g/CAR-150 Madaya UNICEF 24.84 8.28 Carton 920 High-energy biscuits (20 packets per box) — 14 USD DMS-1026 Madaya International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 116 60 Carton 1 950 Medical Supplies Madaya ICRC - - Bundle 20 000 Blankets Madaya World Health Organization (WHO) 37 7.8 Box 840 Medicine boxes Madaya Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) 8.16 4.08 Box 8 150 Baby milk (under 6 months) Madaya SARC 4.08 2.04 Box 4 060 Baby milk (6 to 12 months) Madaya SARC 6 3 Sack 6 000 Milk powder Madaya 44 trucks Material delivered to Madaya on 14 January 2016
Agency Volume (cubic metres) Weight (tons) Unit type No. of units Commodity Final destination WFP 185.59 117.546 Sack 7 800 Wheat flour Madaya UNICEF 32 11.200 Sack 4 000 Washing powder (2 kg each) Madaya UNICEF 255 18.3 Carton 8 000 Children's winter clothes kit Madaya UNICEF 10 5.4 Bar 40 000 Bath soap Madaya UNICEF 11.2 2.24 Box 400 Water purification tablets (NaDCC), 33 mg/box 10,000 Madaya UNICEF 8.8 1.824 Kit 2 Inter-agency health kit 2011 (complete set) Madaya UNICEF 63.6 23.28 Kit 600 Syria school bag kit for 20 students Madaya UNICEF 2 0.21 Kit 2 Midwifery kit (complete set) Madaya UNICEF 12 3.34 Kit 2 Diarrhoeal disease set packing Madaya UNICEF 216 2 Each 10 000 Blankets Madaya UNICEF 16 0.205 Carton 33 Permethrin shampoo/solution 1%/100 ml bottle Madaya Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 109 16 Each 10 000 Blankets Madaya 167 Each 16 000 Medium thermal blankets Madaya 45 trucks Material delivered to Kafraya and Fu'ah on 11 January 2016
Agency Volume (cubic metres) Weight (tons) Unit type No. of units Commodity Final destination WFP 203 129 Carton 4 000 Food rations Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.72 0.095 Pack 1 300 Multiple micronutrient powder, sachet/PAC-30 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 4 1.625 Carton 125 Fortified spread, pot 325 g/CAR-36 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.75 0.3 Carton 20 Supplementary spread, sachet 92 g/CAR-150 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.1 0.035 Pack 50 Micronutrient tablets, pregnancy/PAC-1000 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.025 0.009 Pack 25 Fe (as fumarate) + folic 60 + 0.4 mg tablet/PAC-1000 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.25 0.148 Carton 10 Therapeutic spread, sachet 92 g/CAR-150 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 8.1 2.7 Carton 300 High-energy biscuits (20 packets per box) — 14 USD DMS-1026 Kafraya and Fu'ah ICRC 116 60 Carton 1 950 Medical supplies Kafraya and Fu'ah - - Blanket 10 000 Blankets Kafraya and Fu'ah WHO 18.5 3.9 Box 424 Medicine boxes Kafraya and Fu'ah SARC 8.16 4.08 Box 8 160 Baby milk (under 6 months) Kafraya and Fu'ah SARC 4.08 2.04 Box 4 080 Baby milk (6 to 12 months) Kafraya and Fu'ah SARC 6 3 Sack 6 000 Milk powder Kafraya and Fu'ah 22 trucks Material delivered to Kafraya and Fu'ah on 14 January 2016
Agency Volume (cubic metres) Weight (tons) Unit type No. of units Commodity Final destination WFP 95.2 60.3 Sack 4 000 Wheat flour Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 15 5 Sack 2 500 Washing powder (2 kg each) Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 120 9.17 Carton 4 000 Children's winter clothes kit Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 5 2.7 Bar 20 000 Bath soap Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 5.6 1.14 Box 200 Water purification tablets (NaDCC), 33 mg/box 10,000 Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 4.4 0.912 Kit 1 Inter-agency health kit 2011 (complete set) Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 30.7 11.52 Kit 300 Syria school bag kit for 20 students Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 1 0.105 Kit 1 Midwifery kit (complete set) Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 3.8 1.5 Kit 1 Diarrhoeal disease set packing Kafraya and Fu'ah UNICEF 0.7 0.244 Carton 17 Permethrin shampoo/solution 1%/100 ml bottle Kafraya and Fu'ah UNHCR 109 16 Each 10 000 Blankets Kafraya and Fu'ah 83.5 44 Each 8 000 Medium thermal blankets Kafraya and Fu'ah 18 trucks
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