Syria’s authorization of some aid convoys to besieged Syrian towns is “at best a drop in the ocean” and the U.N. must urgently prepare to make airdrops to areas most in need of humanitarian help, France’s U.N. ambassador said Friday.
The Syrian government announced a day earlier that it approved the delivery of aid to 36 “restive areas” and partial deliveries to eight other areas in June.
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“We have not been fooled by the Syrian regime’s ploy to authorize certain convoys which turn out to be empty of food or medicine or both,” Francois Delattre told reporters ahead of an emergency closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council to hear briefings from the U.N. special envoy for Syria and the U.N. humanitarian chief.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said “it’s too little, too late, but it’s welcome.”
The United Nations had requested access to 34 locations to help 1.1 million people and Syria approved 23 requests in full and six partially, and rejected five, U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said.
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The request included all 19 locations officially designated as besieged areas, except Yarmouk, which is covered by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and Deir el-Zour, which is under siege by Islamic State extremists and is already receiving airdrops, she said.
Of the 17 besieged locations that the U.N. sought to send aid, Pitt said Syria approved 12 requests in full and three partially – Moadamiyeh, Daraya and Douna, where it approved medical assistance, school supplies and milk for children.
Syria rejected U.N. requests to send aid to Zabadani, a mountain resort which has been besieged by government forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters since last year, and Waer, the last rebel-held neighbourhood in the central city of Homs, Pitt said.
The International Syria Support Group, a coalition of world powers, had called for the World Food Program to unilaterally deliver food to besieged Syrians starting June 1 if access wasn’t granted by the Syrian government.
WFP said U.N. officials are appealing to the Syrian government to get permission for air drops to besieged areas.
The U.N. food agency said it is “activating” the air delivery plan following a request from the Syria support group, led by the U.S. and Russia, but that it needs authorizations and funding first.
WFP said late Thursday that 15 besieged areas would require helicopter operations for the air drops if land access is not granted. It said high-altitude airdrops would be possible in the villages of Fouah and Kfraya, in addition to the northeastern city of Deir el-Zour where airdrops have already taken place.
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