Damascus concerned about Syrians more than anyone else: Diplomat
No one cares more about the Syrian nation than the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the country's deputy ambassador to the UN says amid reports of severe malnourishment in some towns.
“The Syrian government is the government that is most mindful of its people,” Mounzer Mounzer told a UN Security Council meeting held Friday to discuss the humanitarian crisis there.
“No one can claim to care more about our people than we do… especially when it comes to providing assistance to areas under the control of armed terrorist groups.”
Some 400,000 Syrians are believed to be trapped in the hard-to-reach areas of the country.
The Syrian city of Madaya, held by foreign-backed militants, has come under media spotlight over reported malnourishment among its residents.
The government recently allowed international humanitarian aid to enter the city where militants are besieged by Syrian army forces.
International aid convoys also reached Kefraya and al-Foua in Idlib Province, where militants have besieged it for months.
Kang Kyung-wha, the deputy UN aid chief, told the 15-member council that the procedure of providing aid to the affected Syrian people was “slow and bureaucratic,” urging “simplified” humanitarian operations.
Mounzer said all measures were needed to be taken to ensure relief aid does not fall into the hands of the militants operating in Syria.
The Syrian diplomat also called for tackling terrorism as the root cause of the conflict, saying the humanitarian disaster arose after terrorist groups entered the Arab state.
The Syrian government says aid delivered to Madaya in October last year had been looted by terrorists and sold to civilians at inflated prices.
According to the UN, up to 4.5 million people live in hard-to-reach areas of Syria, which has been witnessing a deadly conflict since March 2011.
Over 260,000 people have reportedly lost their lives while millions of others have been forced to flee their homes due to the violence.
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