Status quo 'totally unacceptable' in quake-hit, war-ravaged Syria

The U.N. special envoy to Syria called out the political impasse over the civil war that's long raged and the harm it's done to efforts at coping with the new horrors from the huge earthquakes that hit Syria and Turkey.

Northern Syria suffered widespread destruction and death from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 and its aftershocks, after being decimated by 12 years of civil war and its unending diasters and crises.

Making matters worse were the blocked humanitarian aid routes into the country that Russia's ally Syria has controlled through its permanent veto-wielding seat on the United Nation's powerful arm, the Security Council.

"Syrians in the northwest, in particular in areas outside government control, have expressed strong frustrations at the international community’s inability to provide urgent assistance to them in the days after the earthquakes," Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

"The tragic reality is that an effective response was hampered in part by challenges that relate directly to the unresolved issues at the heart of the conflict," he said.

Martin Griffiths, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, told the council at least 50,000 people have died from the earthquakes, including 6,000 in Syria, and tens of thousands are still missing. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless because of the quakes.

"This immense, almost unbelievable, tragedy came at an extremely difficult time for the people of Syria, compounding suffering in a country already plagued by 12 years of armed conflict," said Griffiths.

"Even before this latest tragedy, some 15.3 million people — 70% of the country’s population — needed humanitarian assistance," he said, noting that hundreds of buildings are still at risk of collapsing and thousands may have to be demolished.

"The risk of disease is growing, amid pre-existing cholera outbreaks. The prices of food and other essential items climb even higher," he added. "Women and children face increased harassment, violence, and risk of exploitation, and the need for psychosocial support is great."

Rasha Muhrez, global head of project management for Save the Children, recounted how the tragedy has affected countless lives and called for "new creative approaches" to scale up the massive humanitarian aid and recovery that's needed.

“We are now in a race against time,” Muhrez said, noting she spoke both as a humanitarian and a Syrian. "Without a change in the approach, just to rebuild what's lost, Syrians would need to wait a whole lifetime."

A complex political landscape

Pedersen described how the earthquake hit many areas with heavy war damage, or where conflict conditions remain acute and refugees and internally displaced people have a precarious hold on life.

It also struck, he observed, at a moment when Syria's "needs were highest, when services were scarcest, when the economy was lowest, and when their infrastructure was already heavily damaged."

"I have long said that the situation in Syria is unsustainable, that the status quo is totally unacceptable, and that the Syrian people are acutely vulnerable to issues not solely in their hands," said Pederson. "And the Syrian people, again, are the ones who pay a heavy price."

The solution is to "depoliticize the humanitarian response," he urged: "This is the time for everybody to give quickly and generously to Syria and remove all hindrances to relief reaching Syrians in all affected areas. And this means calm: this is not the time for military action or violence."

Russia has used its veto power to force the 15-nation Security Council to close all but the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northern Syria as a U.N.-backed lifeline of food and medicine for millions of Syrians.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing mainly helps the 4.1 million mostly displaced people in Syria's northwest Idlib province.

The council originally approved four border crossings — two in Turkey at Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam, one at Al Yarubiyah in Iraq, and one at Al-Ramtha in Jordan — when aid began in 2014, three years after the start of the Syrian conflict.

Pedersen said he welcomed the decision by the Syrian government to open two crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee from Turkey to northwest Syria.

"As we move from emergency response to recovery after the earthquake, the unresolved political challenges will pose bigger obstacles and bigger dilemmas," he said, pointing to terrorists, foreign armies, systemic human rights abuses and other problems. "It will require navigating through one of the most complex political landscapes on the planet."