Germany pledges €100 million in aid for Idlib conflict
Germany promised €100 million ($111 million) in aid on Thursday for people in the conflict-ridden region of Idlib, Syria’s last rebel enclave.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany would offer the United Nations the additional funding as he embarked for a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Zagreb, Croatia. He said humanitarian organizations must “continue to be given cross-border access to people in need”.
However, the foreigner minister emphasized: “There are clear preconditions for this: Humanitarian access and the protection of aid workers and the population must be guaranteed. He added, “What we need now is an immediate ceasefire and the provision of supplies for the one million internally displaced persons.”
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
On the run
Traffic is heavy on the roads heading north through the Idlib region toward the Turkish border. Soldiers of the Assad regime are advancing from the south and east, aided by their Russian and Iranian allies. Some Syrian rebel groups are supported by Turkey, which also has soldiers of its own in the region. But ordinary people just want to reach safety.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
‘Horror has multiplied’
Almost 1 million people have been displaced since December. According to UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, “the horror has multiplied” in the past two weeks. The front lines are closing in, triggering large movements of people in the space of just a few days. Assad wants to drive the civilian population out of Idlib province, and is moving to capture this last rebel stronghold.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Bombed to pieces
Maaret al-Numan and the surrounding area has been particularly badly hit by the attacks. The city has been bombed to pieces and is practically deserted. The important M5 highway runs through here, from Damascus via Aleppo to the Turkish border. Most of those fleeing are trying to make it to Turkey — but the border is closed.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Waiting at the border
Around 100 people, including 35 children, died in bombings in the first half of February alone, according to the United Nations, which has spoken of the “blatant disregard for the life and safety of civilians.” This family fled to the Turkish border months ago. They’re living in the Kafr Lusin refugee camp, holding on to the hope that Turkey will eventually let them in.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
500,000 children in need
Out of the almost 1 million people who have fled it’s estimated that around half are children. Of the rest, the majority are women. There aren’t enough shacks at the Turkish border to house them all, and many refugees are living in tents. Camps are often set up in haste and are severely overcrowded. People are sleeping in doorways and on pieces of cardboard, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Little food and medicine
Those who have been able to find a tent usually share it with about a dozen family members. Medicine is running out in many of the camps, and basic food and clothing is also becoming scarce. Doctors on the ground report that many children are suffering from malnutrition, and some are even dying of starvation. The cold is also taking its toll, and some people have already frozen to death.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Refuge in a school
Many children in the region can no longer go to school, so some school buildings have been repurposed. This school has been turned into a refugee shelter — sometimes, even the refugee camps are targeted in bombing raids.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Trying to reach safety
The illegal route across the border to Turkey is costly; hardly anyone can afford it. Smugglers are charging people up to $2,000 (about €1,800). Those who do make the attempt are risking their lives: Turkish border guards have thermal imaging cameras to help them spot people trying to cross. Sometimes they shoot at refugees who try to climb over the wall.
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Syria’s Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
Looking for dignity
The UN has said the situation in Idlib could be the greatest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century. No one knows whether or not there will be a ceasefire. The refugees don’t care who puts an end to the war; they just want a life of safety and dignity, for themselves and for their children. A four-way summit between Turkey, Russia, France and Germany, planned for March 5, is now in jeopardy.
Read more: Idlib: ‘I’d rather suffer bombs than Assad’
‘Humanitarian catastrophe’
Maas urged Turkey and Russia to establish such preconditions and called on Moscow “to exert pressure on the Assad regime to finally stop the attacks on hospitals and schools.”
Russia-backed Syrian regime forces are battling in the north of the country to reclaim Iblib.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in a separate meeting in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the escalation of violence in Idlib province amid the monthslong Russian-backed Syrian government offensive there.
“The scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib is dramatic,” Maas said.
mvb/rt (AFP, dpa)
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