Looming Catastrophe in North Syria After Suspension of Int’l Aid

A displaced Syrian family in Idlib camps (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A displaced Syrian family in Idlib camps (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Looming Catastrophe in North Syria After Suspension of Int’l Aid

A displaced Syrian family in Idlib camps (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A displaced Syrian family in Idlib camps (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Local humanitarian organizations in northwest Syria warned Monday of “catastrophic consequences” resulting from the closure of Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Türkiye, which allows access for medical assistance to millions of citizens, including 2.5 million displaced persons.

The Syria Response Team, an organization concerned with monitoring the humanitarian situation in NW Syria, warned in a statement that some 2.2 million people will be affected from the closure of the humanitarian lifeline that secures food provided by the World Food Program.

Other organizations and around 2.65 million people will be deprived of clean or drinking water, it added.

The Syria Response Team said this catastrophe looms as the mandate of UN Resolution 2642 approaches an end while international agencies insist to legitimize the entry of humanitarian aid through crossings of the Syrian regime.

Last month, local and international humanitarian organizations have called on the UN Security Council to renew and extend the Syria cross-border resolution 2642 for at least 12 months to allow humanitarian aid into northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

The resolution will be put to a vote on January 10.

The Syria Response Team warned Monday that the closure of Bab al-Hawa crossing will interrupt bread support in more than 725 camps, and deprive more than a million people from obtaining bread on a daily basis.

At the medical level, the Team said that “stopping the entry of aid across the borders will reduce the number of hospitals and effective medical facilities to less than half in the first stage, and more than 80 percent will be closed in the second stage.”

It noted that starting 2023, eight medical facilities have already seen reduced or no aid while less than 20 percent of facilities in the camp are receiving medical support.

Also, humanitarian organizations are unable to provide support to repair damages within the camps, the Team said, noting also the increase in the birth rate, and the arrival of new displaced people.

Meanwhile, medical authorities in NW Syria spoke of a new crisis with the interruption of support for dozens of hospitals and medical facilities, and the near depletion of operational materials in a number of other hospitals that provide multiple medical services to more than two million civilians, most of whom are displaced people residing in camps.

The medical authorities said a number of hospitals already stopped providing medical services to civilians suffering from heart, respiratory and orthopedic diseases starting the first day of 2023. They named the Atma Charitable Hospital, HIH Hospital for Children, Armanaz Hospital, and Al-Quds Hospital north of Idlib.

Ahmed al-Hassan, director of Syria's Al Khair camp, which houses about 800 displaced families north of Idlib, said “a horrible catastrophe may affect millions of people residing in the area, unless the mechanism for entering international humanitarian aid is renewed as soon as possible.”

He also spoke about a possible famine among the displaced, and the spread of epidemics and diseases.

More than 2.5 million displaced people from different regions of Syria are unemployed and have no source of income to survive, al-Hassan said.

He stressed that most of the displaced families in the camps depend on the monthly baskets provided by international partner organizations of the UN and WPF.



Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday targeting two Hezbollah members, with Lebanese health authorities reporting one person killed and three wounded.

It was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in the area despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

"A short while ago, two Hezbollah terrorists who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities were struck by the (military) in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

The Lebanese health ministry's emergency unit said the "Israeli airstrike on a van in the village of Yohmor... led to one death", according to the official National News Agency (NNA), adding that three other people were wounded.

The agency reported that an Israeli drone had targeted a motorcycle with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and "fires erupted in it" and a nearby shop.

The attack came a day after NNA and the health ministry reported four deaths in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military had targeted the south Lebanon town of Ainata after "a stray bullet from a Hezbollah operative's funeral" hit the windshield of a vehicle in the northern Israeli community of Avivim.

"We will not allow shooting from Lebanese territory toward northern communities -- we will respond strongly to any violation of the ceasefire," Katz said.

Israel's military also said "a gunshot hit a parked vehicle in the area of Avivim. No injuries were reported. The shot most likely originated from Lebanese territory."

NNA cited the health ministry as saying that the strike on Ainata "led to the death of two people", after reporting earlier fatalities in Israeli strikes on Mais al-Jabal and Bint Jbeil, also in south Lebanon.

The November 27 truce largely halted the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which included two months of open war in which Israel sent in ground troops.

But Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.

Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic".

The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.