Syria Response Coordinators: United Nations aid being used as covers for Syrian regime army vehicles

SYRIA — A human rights team working in the northern regions of Syria published images of vehicles of the Syrian regime’s vehicles covered with United Nations material provided as aid distributed to the country.

The Syria Response Coordinators team has published images showing covers that are part of the international aid for the camps of the displaced being used to cover vehicles belonging to the Syrian regime.

The team linked the covers to Moscow’s insistence on the entry of aid through government crossings while vetoing decisions related to the entry of aid through borders outside the control of the regime.

In 2014, the UN Security Council authorized the delivery of humanitarian aid to opposition-held regions in Syria from Iraq, Jordan, and two points in Turkey, but Moscow and Beijing, which have veto rights, reduced that to only one Turkish border point.

The team stated that the UN aid, including food, logistical and other supplies, constitutes 27% of the funding operations of the Syrian Army.

The team added that the deficit in aid for the camps sector amounted to 72.8%.

Last July, the UN Security Council voted in favor of a decision to extend the mandate of the mechanism for the delivery of UN humanitarian aid across the border from Turkey to Syria for a period of 6 months.

The team noted that international agencies are still providing aid to organizations affiliated with the Syrian regime, such as the Syrian Red Crescent and other organizations, in the absence of proper donor oversight. They called on the United Nations to clarify how this aid reaches the Syrian Army.

In October of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it was investigating allegations of corruption against the director of its office in Syria, Akjemal Magtimova, and was accused by the staff of mismanaging the millions of dollars that it distributed to the officials of the Syrian regime in the form of gifts.