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Humanitarian Aid

Israeli Airstrikes Target Airport, Make Aid Delivery To Syria More Difficult

March 7, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , ,
Early in the morning of Tuesday, March 7, an Israeli airstrike damaged parts of Aleppo international airport in Syria. This will affect aid delivery to one of Syria’s provinces worst-affected by last month’s earthquake. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted an unnamed Syrian military source, according to whom, at around 2 am on Tuesday, “the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial act of aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to material damage at the airport as it went out of service.”

USAID: The Humanitarian Face Of Colonial Exploitation

February 19, 2023 Amanda Yee, Orinico Tribune. , , ,
The U.S. Agency for International Development was established by executive order under the Kennedy administration in 1961, tasked with the stated mission of administering humanitarian assistance or international development abroad. But make no mistake: USAID serves as a tool of U.S. capitalist and imperialist interests — it exists solely to direct the money and resources of the Global South into the pockets of the U.S. capitalist class. USAID now operates in 100 countries worldwide, mostly in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and has an annual budget of nearly $30 billion to spend on its global development programs.

How US Sanctions Block Aid To Earthquake Victims In Syria

February 18, 2023 Ted Kelly, Workers World. , , , ,
The terrible earthquake that hit a wide area of southeastern Türkiye and neighboring Syria has reportedly killed at least 36,000 people as of Feb. 13, with estimates that this total will reach 50,000. This winter the survivors who lost their housing face freezing and wet conditions, without any alternative shelter, without any electricity, without any heating and with inadequate access to food.  While the devastation has taken place in both countries, and Türkiye faces enormous difficulties delivering aid, it does not face the economic warfare that the U.S. and its NATO allies have directed at Syria for over a decade. Even in the midst of this humanitarian crisis, Washington has ordered a halt to any delivery of financial aid to the legitimate government of Syria.

Calls To Withdraw Sanctions On Earthquake-Hit Syria Grow Louder

February 15, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
On Monday, February 13, Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Bassam Sabbagh stated before the UN Security Council (UNSC) that all countries should provide humanitarian assistance to all those affected by the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 and avoid all kinds of politicization. He also reiterated Syria’s position that “Western imposed illegal coercive measures” have caused delays in support for earthquake relief in the country. Sabbagh was speaking during the special meeting called by the UNSC to discuss the impact of the earthquake on Syria.

US Sanctions Block Aid To Syria, After Earthquake Killed Thousands

February 10, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. , , , , ,
Illegal US and EU sanctions have prevented some humanitarian aid from being sent to Syria, after a devastating earthquake killed thousands of people. The death toll is increasing by the day, but at least 3000 Syrians had lost their lives due to the earthquake as of February 9. Thousands of buildings were also destroyed. This is especially damaging because Syria had already been destabilized by a decade of war, fueled with billions of dollars and foreign meddling by the US, Europe, and Israel. Syrian Arab Red Crescent director Khaled Hboubati told the Associated Press that unilateral Western sanctions have exacerbated the “difficult humanitarian situation”. “There is no fuel even to send (aid and rescue) convoys, and this is because of the blockade and sanctions”, Hboubati warned. Syria’s United Nations Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh explained that US and EU sanctions have prevented planes from landing in Syrian airports, “So even those countries who want to send humanitarian assistance, they cannot use the airplane cargo because of the sanctions”.

Sanctions Hamper Relief And Rescue Work In Earthquake-Devastated Syria

February 7, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Khaled Hboubati, demanded on Tuesday, February 7, that Western countries, specifically the US and its allies, lift their siege and sanctions on Syria so that rescue and relief work can proceed unimpeded, after the country was devastated by a powerful earthquake on Monday. “We need heavy equipment, ambulances and fire fighting vehicles to continue to rescue and remove the rubble, and this entails lifting sanctions on Syria as soon as possible,” Hboubati said at a press conference on Tuesday, as reported by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). A powerful earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.8 struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. Over 5,000 people have been reported dead so far. In Syria alone the death toll was 1,602 on Monday. These numbers are only expected to rise as a large number of people are suspected to be still buried under the debris of houses that collapsed in the earthquake and its aftershocks.

Rwanda And Zaire (DRC), Where The US Blocked Humanitarian Intervention

April 9, 2021 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Judi, the story that most people know, the one that's in the Wikipedia and more or less told in the movie Hotel Rwanda, is that, in April, 1994, Rwandan Hutus were suddenly consumed by mass psychosis and ethnic bloodlust, and killed half a million to a million Rwandan Tutsis. And that they were egged on by La Radio des Milles Collines in Kigali. Then they were saved by General Paul Kagame, who appeared—in the movie—out of nowhere.  And before going on, I think I should say that our friend Paul Rusesabagina, the real life hero of Hotel Rwanda, is now in prison in Rwanda because for one, he has a much more complex view of what actually happened than that portrayed in the movie. So tell us what really happened.

Chinese Peacekeepers Provide Aid After Explosion In Beirut

August 21, 2020 Kristin Huang, South China Morning Post. , , , ,
Chinese peacekeepers will provide medical aid to Beirut following the deadly explosion on Tuesday  that killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 others. Upon the request of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the 18th batch of Chinese peacekeeping troops to Lebanon organised an emergency team of nine medical personnel from fields including surgery, internal medicine, burns and anaesthesiology, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. The personnel and vehicles would head to Beirut, carrying medical supplies and protective equipment, the medical unit said.

Preliminary Report From Beirut

August 6, 2020 Ziad Abu-Rish, Jadilayya. , , ,
The nature of Tuesday’s explosion in the port of Beirut and the extent of the damage across the city and beyond is not yet clear. There are plenty of unconfirmed reports and it is hard to take official statements as transparent. That being said, the effects of the explosion were felt across the city and beyond. For those familiar with the geography, nearby areas such Karantina and Gemmayzeh as well as further away areas such as Manara, Hamra, Burj Hammoud, Sin al-Fil, and Brummana felt the explosion.

The Meaning Of ‘Humanitarian Aid’

March 2, 2019 By Vijay Prashad, Consortiumnews.com , , ,
As the United States and its allies put pressure on Venezuela, a poem by the Salvadoran radical Roque Dalton (1935-1975) clarifies the structure of politics in Latin America. Dalton came from one of Latin America’s smallest countries, El Salvador, which he used to call the little finger (pulgarcito). A deeply compassionate poet, Dalton was also a militant of the People’s Revolutionary Army, whose internal struggles claimed his short life. El Salvador, like so many other Latin American states, struggles to carve out its sovereignty from the tentacles of U.S. power.

US And Allies Steal $23 Billion, Offer $60 Million In ‘Humanitarian Aid’

February 13, 2019 Bill Hackwell, Resumen-english.org , , ,
The first trucks carrying the so called humanitarian aid for Venezuela have arrived at the Colombian border city of Cúcuta where a standoff is taking place. Together the European Union and the United States plan to send $60 million in aid, despite the fact that the Venezuelan government is demanding the return of more than $23 billion dollars frozen in accounts being held in the U.S., Canada and Europe that they consider stolen from their  public treasury; money that could have been spent on the necessary import of food and medicine for the benefit of the entire population.

Red Cross Of Colombia: US Action To Venezuela Is Not ‘Humanitarian Aid’

February 11, 2019 Staff, Brasil247.com , ,
The head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombia, Christoph Harnisch, said that the institution would not participate in the distribution of any assistance that arrives in Venezuela from the United States since it considers that it is not "humanitarian." The US government does not meet the criteria of being independent, impartial and neutral.
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