3 members of the US House of Representatives made a rare visit, Sunday, to a region in North America Syria It is controlled by pro-Turkish opposition factions, according to a team from the French Press Agency at the site.
Representatives “French Hill”, “Ben Klein” and “Scott Fitzgerald” visited a hospital in the city of Azaz (Aleppo Governorate), coming from Turkey via the Bab al-Salama border crossing, where they were greeted with a banner reading “Welcome to Free Syria”, surrounded by the flags of the revolution. Syrian.
“The aim of the visit is to see the reality in the liberated areas,” said Yasser al-Hajji, a public relations official in the Turkish-backed interim government, to Agence France-Presse.
The deputies met orphans due to the war that has claimed more than half a million people since 2011, before the visit was shortened for security reasons, according to what one of their companions told AFP.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham controls about half of the area of the province of Idlib (northwest) and adjacent areas in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama.
There are also other less influential opposition factions, supported by Türkiye to varying degrees.
The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, indicated that “to avoid causing controversy in the United States, they did not go to Jendires, in the areas controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.”
Despite declaring its affiliation with al-Qaeda, Washington still classifies the organization as a “terrorist” organization.
Abdul Rahman added, “Members of Congress wanted to evaluate the work of the interim government, in order to study the possibility of sending humanitarian aid through Bab al-Salamah instead of Bab al-Hawa,” which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
On Sunday, the American representatives met with the director of the “White Helmets” organization, the Civil Defense in the areas controlled by the opposition and jihadist factions in and around Idlib, Raed al-Saleh.
“The meeting touched on the importance of continuing cross-border aid in light of the growing humanitarian needs after the catastrophic devastating earthquake,” which struck Turkey and Syria in February, killing tens of thousands, said a statement by the White Helmets on the X platform.
The organization also indicated that the two sides discussed “the popular movement taking place in the Syrian regions, the importance of confronting attempts to float the Assad regime and impunity for the atrocities it committed, and the need to strengthen accountability and hold perpetrators accountable.”
Under the United Nations mechanism established in 2014, Bab al-Hawa is the only gateway for aid to enter northwestern Syria from Turkey, without the permission of the Syrian government.
On July 11, this mechanism, which Damascus denounced as a violation of its sovereignty, was not extended before the United Nations announced in early August an agreement with the Syrian regime that would allow the delivery of aid for a period of six months through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
France 24/AFP
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2023-08-28 02:43:42
