Shaking hands with the devil? UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.
The United States has long condemned the Syrian authorities for attacking civilians with missiles, artillery and chemical weapons. On Monday, they made a point of adding a new item to that list: starvation. US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian regime is overcomplicating, delaying and even preventing vital aid from reaching Syrian civilians in the war torn country.
Considering the United States has given almost $1.4 billion in aid to the Syrians, the actions of the Bashar Assad regime are likely going to cost you money as it will take more effort to get the aid to the people. Think of it like a detour on your commute: the extra driving effort costs you more gas and time.
“It is the regime’s policies that threaten to take a humanitarian disaster into the abyss,” Kerry wrote in an article released by his office. “…The regime has systematically blocked food shipments to strategically located districts, leading to a rising toll of death and misery.”
The actions Kerry said the Syrian government has done include: refusing to register legitimate aid agencies, blocking assistance at its borders and sending United Nations convoys through “scores of checkpoints.”
Kerry’s accusation didn’t come without a solution: turn up the heat on Syria. “A regime that gassed its own people and systematically denies them food and medicine will bow only to our pressure, not to our hopes. Assad’s allies who have influence over his calculations must demand that he and his backers adhere to international standards.”
Kerry further underscored the danger looming in the humanitarian crisis by pointing out that things will only get worse with the bad weather of coming months. “With winter approaching quickly, and the rolls of the starving and sick growing daily, we can waste no time,” said Kerry. “Aid workers must have full access to do their jobs now. The world cannot sit by watching innocents die.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 28, 2013)