US Affirms Syrian Regime Has No Access to Humanitarian Aid

Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021. Reuters
Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021. Reuters
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US Affirms Syrian Regime Has No Access to Humanitarian Aid

Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021. Reuters
Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021. Reuters

The United States has stressed that assistance it has pledged for the Syrian crisis is not aimed for reconstruction.

It noted that the Syrian regime will have no access to the humanitarian aid, which will be distributed on camps and refugees in neighboring countries as well.

In a telephone briefing on Tuesday, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Richard Albright said the US will “not provide any reconstruction assistance absent progress on the political track.”

“There is no military solution that will bring peace, security, and stability to Syria and the region.”

Asharq Al-Awsat asked Albright about the means of maintaining the delivery of the assistance to the people under regime controlled areas or regions where Russia is present and whether the US will contact the regime or have any kind of cooperation to deliver the aid.

The UN agencies and the NGOs in Syria operate according to a humanitarian response plan and independently, he responded.

“None of our assistance that we provide goes to the Syrian government. It all flows through UN agencies and NGOs and it goes to the people of Syria.”

“We watch very closely the issues of access inside of Syria, and we do not allow the Syrian regime, the UN doesn’t allow them, to seize assistance or control where it goes,” he added.

“But we do sometimes encourage – encounter difficulty in access, and sometimes the regime does not allow agencies to operate where they feel they need to operate. So that is a challenge that we continue to deal with inside of Syria,” Albright concluded.

He pointed out that US assistance targets more than 12 million Syrians who’ve been forced out of their homes, fleeing the horrific effects of the Assad regime’s destructive campaign.

It supports a wide range of humanitarian programs for people affected by the crisis and the communities that host them, such as food, shelter, healthcare, education, and livelihoods.

The US assistance also provides protection and assistance for refugees to support them to become self-reliant and to provide services like counseling and other protection programs for the most highly at-risk groups, including children, women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, he stated.

“The United States will continue to be a leader in the humanitarian response and to advocate for unhindered humanitarian access to Syrians regardless of where they live.”

Renewing and expanding the UN’s authorization for cross-border access to deliver humanitarian aid is essential, he affirmed.

Speaking at the fifth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” on Tuesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced more than $596 million in new humanitarian assistance to respond to the Syrian crisis.

This funding brings the total US government humanitarian assistance to nearly $13 billion since the start of the decade-long crisis, including nearly $141 million in support of the COVID-19 pandemic response in Syria and the region.

The US assistance will benefit many of the estimated 13.4 million Syrians inside Syria in need of humanitarian aid, as well as 5.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He urged other donors to support the Syrian people by increasing their contributions to these efforts.

“The Syrian people have faced innumerable atrocities, including Assad regime and Russian airstrikes, forced disappearances, ISIS brutality and chemical weapons attacks,” Blinken said in a statement.

“Furthermore, systemic corruption and economic mismanagement at the hands of the Assad regime have exacerbated the dire humanitarian crisis, which has been further compounded by the challenge of COVID-19.”



UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

 UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

 UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)

The United Nations’ special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank said Tuesday that it's time for nations around the world to take concrete actions to stop what she called the “genocide” in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 countries meeting in Colombia’s capital to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and ways that nations can try to stop Israel’s military offensive in the territory. Many of the participating nations have described the violence as genocide against the Palestinians.

“Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel ... and ensure its private sector does the same,” Albanese said. “The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.”

The two-day conference organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa is being attended mostly by developing nations, although the governments of Spain, Ireland and China have also sent delegates.

Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.”

Analysts say it’s not clear whether the conference's participating countries have enough leverage over Israel to force it to change its policies in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed in Israeli military operations following a deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. The death toll comes from the health ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

“The United States has so far failed to influence Israel’s behavior ... so it is naive to think that this group of countries can have any influence over (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s behavior or on the government of Israel,” said Sandra Borda, a professor of international relations at Bogota’s Los Andes University.

She said, however, that the conference will enable some nations of the Global South to clarify their position toward the conflict and have their voices heard.

The conference is co-chaired by the governments of South Africa and Colombia, which last year suspended coal exports to Israeli power plants, and includes the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this year pledged to cut military ties with Israel and to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

For decades, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank with its own history of oppression under the harsh apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

South Africa’s current argument is rooted in the sentiment that Palestinians have been oppressed in their homeland as Black South Africans were under apartheid.

The gathering comes as the European Union weighs various measures against Israel that include a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials, who are found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Colombia’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo said Monday that the nations participating in the Bogota meeting, which also include Qatar and Türkiye, will be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures that can be taken to put more pressure on Israel to cease its attacks.

The Colombian official described Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an affront to the international order.

“This is not just about Palestine” Jaramillo said in a press conference. “It is about defending international law... and the right to self-determination.”