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Relief Aid for Syrians Going to Regime Loyalists

(Now-Lebanon) Razan Zeitoune - In Syria, when a regime official calls the local Red Crescent chapter and asks for food rations, local aid workers cannot deny this request. In many cases, regime officials pressure families benefiting from aid into giving information about rebels as a precondition for allowing aid deliveries to continue. Frequently, relief supplies are sold at cheap prices to people who are loyal to the regime. In addition, corruption and favoritism rule the relief distribution process. A sizeable portion of those who receive aid are not needy: their names are on the lists because they are related to some official or due to their security and military ties. Those in charge of relief operations say they are buying the good will of the security services in order to allow a portion of aid to make it to those actually in need. Are international organizations aware of how much aid is being cashed in by the Assad regime and its loyalists?
2013-11-06 00:00:00
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