Tens of thousands of war-torn civilians in Syria flee yet more violence

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Aid agencies, military leaders and senior international officials including NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker have warned that hundreds of thousands of people are in immediate danger from Turkey’s offensive targeting Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Syria is already hosting one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced both within and outside its borders, and the Turkish offensive threatens to add a frightening new dimension. Aid agencies said many of those in the area where the controversial offensive is focused have already survived the brutality of the Islamic State era. Many have been displaced multiple times during Syria’s long war.

The UK-based agency Save the Children states: “Currently, there are 1.65 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in this area, including more than 650,000 displaced by war. All essential services including food, water, shelter, health, education and protection must be consistently provided to all civilians, or we could see another humanitarian disaster unfold before our eyes. In addition to the Syrian civilians in the north-east, there are thousands of women and children living in camps across the area … who rely completely and exclusively on humanitarian aid. Any interruption to camp services which are already overstretched would put their lives at risk.

“Children in Syria who have fled ISIS-held areas are innocent and swept up in horrific events far beyond their control. Their short lives have been full of violence and fear. All children deserve [the] chance to recover.”

In sharp-edged remarks aimed at Turkey, European commission president Juncker pointed out that the EU is contributing €6bn to Turkey to help support the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the country, adding that Europe would not contribute to the creation of a “safe zone” in northern Syria. While acknowledging that Turkey has security concerns on its border with Syria, Juncker said: “If the Turkish plan involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, don’t expect the European Union to pay for any of it.”

[The Guardian]

Turkish president threatens to send 3.6m refugees to Europe

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Turkish warplanes and artillery continue to strike border towns in north-eastern Syria, after its troops crossed into the region to wrest it from US-backed Kurdish forces. An earlier barrage of airstrikes and artillery signalled the beginning of a long-planned operation. The Turkish military later said it had hit 181 “militant targets”.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened to “open the gates” for Syrian refugees in his country to migrate to Europe if the continent’s countries label Turkey’s military campaign in north-eastern Syria an “occupation”.

Video footage showed civilians fleeing towns with columns of smoke rising in the background and jet trails visible in the sky. Kurdish activist groups estimated tens of thousands of civilians had fled their homes after the beginning of the Turkish offensive. Pictures and video from border towns shared on social media showed wrecked buildings and bodies in the rubble.

President Trump presented the invasion as a historical inevitability, saying Turks and Kurds “have been fighting each other for centuries”. And he downplayed the US debt to Kurdish fighters, saying: “They didn’t help us in the second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy.”

Turkey says it is seeking to establish a 20-mile (32km) wide buffer zone along the border against the threat of what it says are Kurdish terror groups as well as ISIS. It also hopes to resettle Syrian refugees in the zone.

[The Guardian]

Humanitarian concerns as Turkey launches Trump-sanctioned military assault on Kurds in Syria

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Rights groups and anti-war activists warned of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” Wednesday as Turkish forces invaded northeastern Syria and launched airstrikes against Kurdish targets, forcing civilians to flee in panic. Activists reported airstrikes on a town on Syria’s northern border and a Kurdish official said warplanes targeted civilians, causing a “huge panic.”

The attack comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump gave his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light to begin the operation by announcing the abrupt withdrawal of American forces from northeastern Syria.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned in a statement Wednesday that Turkey’s assault “will spill the blood of thousands of innocent civilians because our border areas are overcrowded.”

SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali accused Turkey of deliberately targeting “civilian areas.” Fighters with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which leads the SDF, told CNN that hundreds of civilians scrambled to escape northeastern Syria as Turkey began bombarding the area.

Also on Wednesday, ISIS militants targeted a post of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, which was once the de facto ISIS capital at the height of the militants’ power in the region.

The Turkish operation will ignite new fighting in Syria’s 8-year-old war, potentially displacing hundreds of thousands of people, and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights reported that people had begun fleeing the border town of Tal Abyad. Kurdish politician Nawaf Khalil, who is in northern Syria, said some people were leaving the town for villages farther south.

The local civilian Kurdish authority known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria asked the international community to live up to its responsibilities as “a humanitarian catastrophe might befall our people.”

Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned Turkey’s plans for an invasion, calling it a “blatant violation” of international law and vowing to repel the incursion. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Washington of playing “very dangerous games”:  “Such reckless attitude to this highly sensitive subject can set fire to the entire region, and we have to avoid it at any cost,” he said. Russian news media said Moscow communicated that position to Washington.

[CBS/Common Dreams]

Disaster recovery: Bringing hope and vision

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Disaster recovery is a long and complex process. It’s much more than getting enough food and water to needy families. It’s about bringing hope and vision to devastated parents and children.

I’ve gone tent-to-tent with Food for the Hungry (FH) staff, to visit disaster-battered families in places like Ethiopia, the Philippines, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eyes cast down to the floor will lift, and a new spark lights up when strangers walk in. “I see you, I see your suffering, it matters to me,” is what you say when you visit. You offer someone a hopeful, emotional ladder to climb out of a pit.

“Recovery” gives the idea of restoring a community to what it was before a disaster. Often, your donations to the disaster relief fund help communities strengthen their ability to react rapidly. Or, they help prevent disaster in the first place, as community leaders learn how to identify where they are vulnerable, and how to protect themselves.

Most importantly, however, disaster recovery gives people hope. I will never forget visiting a community in the Philippines that was literally flattened by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. As soon as I climbed out of the car, a man with a broad smile hurried to our group. He literally hugged me. … “You came back!” the man kept saying.

He was a community leader in the city government and had been greeting a parade of humanitarian organizations amidst the piles of debris. FH’s team had been there the day before; I was not among them, but he recognized the logo on my hat. “You’re the first group I’ve seen who came back,” he continued, smiling broadly. In the coming back, in the staying, in helping parents, churches, and leaders envision a better future, hope remains, even when the walls have crumbled.

[Excerpts of an article by Beth Allen, a volunteer with Food for the Hungry]

Humanitarian relief groups worried about new military action in Syria

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Relief groups are worried about any new military action in Syria, which could pose a new threat to 2 million civilians in northeast Syria, said Misty Buswell, the International Rescue Committee‘s policy, advocacy and communications director for the Middle East. “A military offensive could immediately displace at least 300,000 people and disrupt lifesaving humanitarian services … ” Buswell said.

The Pentagon issued a statement around midday on Monday, clarifying that it has not endorsed a Turkish military offensive over the border. “The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey — as did the President — that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria…” said Jonathan Hoffman, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs.

News that Turkey now plans to move ahead with an offensive along its border with Syria is likewise raising concerns in the U.K. and France.

As the potential for a clash between Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces rises, there are also questions about the makeup of the group. According to Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, the SDF is far more diverse than its origins as Kurdish organization.

“[Turkish President] Erdogan plans to invade Syria again to destroy the SDF, who he assumes are all Kurds and PKK terrorists,” said Holmes, who conducted a survey of the group in northern Syria. She added, “In reality, my survey data shows the majority of SDF are Arabs. Members of the Christian and Turkmen minority in Syria have also joined the SDF.”

[NPR]

Save the Children speaks out following the announced withdrawal of United States troops from Syria

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In a remarkable announcement late Sunday night, the White House said that United States forces in northern Syria would move aside in advance of a planned Turkish military offensive.

The move marks a major shift in US foreign policy and effectively gives Turkey the green light to attack US-backed Kurdish forces. The group, long considered as among Washington’s most reliable partners in Syria, has played a key strategic role in the campaign against ISIS in the region.

Bill Chambers, President and CEO of Save the Children Canada said: ‘We are deeply concerned for hundreds of thousands of people present in North East Syria.

“Currently, there are 1.65 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in northeast Syria, including more than 650,000 displaced by war. All essential services including food, water, shelter, health, education, and protection need to be consistently provided, or we could see another humanitarian disaster unfold before our eyes.”

“This number includes more than 9,000 children from more than 40 different nationalities including Canadian children, in three camps who rely completely and exclusively on humanitarian aid. Any interruption to camp services which are already overstretched would put their lives at risk.”

[CNN/Save the Children]

Hurricane relief in the Bahamas

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The Bahamian Government reports that 53 people are known to have been killed in the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian, with 608 individuals still listed as missing – although this number may not include all undocumented migrants. More than 1,500 people remain in shelters in Nassau and at least 3,000 are living with host families.

The Salvation Army’s divisional headquarters (DHQ) in Nassau is currently supporting four main components: overall logistics and coordination throughout the islands, coordination with the USA mainland, support to shelters throughout Nassau and relief support for the Abaco Islands. As part of the overall relief effort, and to avoid duplication of assistance, Salvation Army team members are attending numerous government-run coordination meetings taking place in Nassau for various aspects of the relief effort, including logistics, washing, food, shelter and psycho-social assistance.

Food, cleaning supplies, baby supplies, hygiene items, water and clothes are being distributed through Freeport Corps and essential goods have been supplied to other distribution points and through community networks. In addition, emergency personnel have begun regular distributions to communities to the east of Freeport, where door-to-door visits are part of a programme to offer practical and emotional support. Supplies are also being provided to neighborhood distribution points, and to partner organizations with a more regular presence in the east of the island (such as the UK charity Team Rubicon).

Inhabitants of the Abaco Islands, most of whom were evacuated after Dorian struck, are slowly returning – although some are going back only for short periods to salvage belongings. Bulk relief supplies are now being transported, utilizing World Food Programme-chartered vessels and storage in Marsh Harbour, in preparation for when larger numbers of people return to the islands.

[Relief Web]

Migrant and refugee death toll in Mediterranean tops 1000 for 6th year

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More than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that this “bleak milestone” has been reached, the United Nations said.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR called for European Union (EU) member states to reactivate search and rescue operations and acknowledge the crucial role of aid groups’ vessels in saving lives at sea. “The tragedy of the Mediterranean cannot be allowed to continue,” Charlie Yaxley, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement.

The EU struck a deal with Ankara in 2016 to cut off refugee and migrant flows to Greece from Turkey. Departures, now also diverted largely via Libya and other parts of North Africa, have fallen sharply from a peak of more than 1 million in 2015 to some 78,000 so far this year, UNHCR figures show.

“Of course the number of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean are much lower. So, that points to the fact that the journeys themselves are much more dangerous,” UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told Reuters Television. “It is also worth highlighting that 70 percent of the deaths actually occur on the central Mediterranean, namely people attempting to get from Libya across to Italy or Malta.”

[Voice of America]

UN World Food Programme launches global movement to fight food waste

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While there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, one third of the 4 billion metric tons of food we produce each year is lost or wasted, costing the global economy nearly US$1 trillion annually. At the same time, war and unrest are forcing more people to flee their homes than at any time since the Second World War, making it difficult for millions of people to grow their own food or buy it at an affordable price.

A recent report by the World Resources Institute confirmed that halving the rate of food loss and waste is an important strategy that would contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and sustainably feeding the planet by 2050.

World Food Programme’s goal is a world with Zero Hunger. Part of achieving that goal is preventing food loss. WFP does this by helping smallholder farmers through the provision of new technologies for storage and transportation that prevent crops from spoiling prematurely and by connecting them with markets.

“#StopTheWaste is a campaign that appeals to everyone along the chain from farm to fork,” said Corinne Woods, Chief Marketing Officer for the World Food Programme. “Food waste is a global issue but everyone can play their part in building a sustainable solution. Whether you are a farmer in Nigeria, losing your crops after harvest or a restaurant diner in New York, wasting the leftovers from your meal, you really can help to #StoptheWaste.” Read more

Rich countries cut spending on humanitarian crises as demand rises

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Wealthy countries including the United States, Germany and Britain spent less on aid for humanitarian crises last year, even as the United Nations said it was dealing with unprecedented need, research released on Monday showed.

The United States, the world’s biggest donor of humanitarian aid, cut its spending by 6% or $423 million in 2018, while Germany and Britain both spent 11% less than in 2017, according to the yearly Global Humanitarian Assistance report.

That was despite a record request through appeals coordinated by the United Nations, which deemed more than 200 million people to be in need of humanitarian aid. A large number of crises endure for many years, requiring greater level of resources and over a longer period of time, the report said.

Development Initiatives is an independent international development organization that produced the report, which looks at the resources directed to people in crisis.

[Thomson Reuters Foundation]