The public sector in Syria has come to an abrupt halt after the opposition seized power as state employees ignore calls to return to their jobs, causing troubles in places like airports, borders and at the Foreign Ministry, and impeding the flow of humanitarian aid, a UN official said.
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula suggested that armed groups could “limit the number of people who are with guns were outside roaming the streets” and “bring back the regular police and the regular law enforcement organs. That could assure the population.”
The public sector, he added, “has just come to a complete an abrupt halt, with people not knowing what their future will look like.”
“This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” Abdelmoula told The Associated Press, alluding to the opposition fighters who seized the capital as longtime President Bashar al-Assad fled.
“To see in the streets that used to be safe ... being occupied by armed people, it is frightening for the population.”
He said was told by "every interlocutor from the armed groups that I spoke to informally that they are prioritizing the restoration of law and order and basic services.”
UN emergency workers are trying to get into Syria, but a lack of border patrol officers or staffing at the Foreign Ministry -- which issues visas -- have held up entry, he said.
He said that the civil aviation employees also abandoned their jobs. “We have a shortage -- acute shortage -- of medical supplies, and we wanted, through WHO, to get at least one plane, cargo plane, to deliver some much needed medical supplies,” Abdelmoula said. “But again, that’s on hold for now because of the absence of civil aviation officials.”
Soldiers flee to Iraq
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 Syrian army soldiers have crossed into Iraq since the opposition overthrew Assad, a militia official in western Iraq said Monday.
The official with the Anbar Tribal Mobilization Forces said that the soldiers had turned over their weapons, ammunition and armored vehicles and would be housed in a camp. He did not say where the camp was located.
Another security official said that the governor of the Syrian province of Hasakeh had come to the border late Sunday night with a convoy of Syrian army soldiers who wanted to cross into Iraq, and they were allowed in via the Qaim crossing.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The Iraqi government has close ties with Iran and used to be one of Assad's primary backers but Baghdad has taken a neutral position on the advance of the insurgents and Assad’s downfall.
