Mr. Farouq Al Habib:

Until February or March of this year when the Security Council amplified the cross-border operation, almost all of the UN aid went to areas under the control of the regime. This allowed the UN to channel assistance without the permission of the Syrian Government. Until now, the cross-border operations represented a small percentage of the total UN aid. I do not have the precise figures but we know that a big portion of UN aid goes to refugees outside Syria. Of course, we want our bodies and people who escape to have access to assistance but we know the most vulnerable people are those who are still inside Syria are under siege and are suffering indiscriminate bombardment. The second part goes to the areas under the control of the regime. We witnessed this ourselves. Most UN employees prefer to sit in hotels and offices in safer places than those where massacres take place or in Lattakia because in those areas, there is electricity and clean water and no airstrikes. Nobody would shell them. For this reason, most of the projects implemented by the UN inside Syria are in areas under the control of the regime because it is a safe environment in which to implement projects. Of course, it is easier but are the people who live there the most vulnerable people? Of course, they are not. The northern countryside of Homs, which is under siege from the regime and ISIS, has been under siege for more than two years. As a result of this shelling, people escape from one village to another within the same circle of the siege. They do not see the UN convoys for six or seven months. They see them only twice or a maximum of three times a year because it is complicated, bureaucratic and too difficult.

On the other side, Syrian civil society organisations merged in the areas beyond the control of the regime. They try to build an alternative and establish NGOs or associations. It is too difficult for them to get access to international aid because they cannot be registered, have bank accounts or meet the bureaucratic requirements of the big UN organisations. This is the real situation. We hear about huge funds in Syrian Civil Defence meetings but only a small percentage reaches the most vulnerable people inside Syria.