海角大神

For Syrians in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, the detainment of聽21 United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights comes as particularly
bad news.聽

Though a handful of aid agencies now conduct low-profile work inside Syria,聽the vast majority remain reluctant to establish a strong footprint inside聽the country given the unpredictable nature of violence inside the country.

But local Syrian aid groups say they are unconcerned. Such incidents have occurred elsewhere in Syria when local聽convoys are moving throughout the country, but are rare.

鈥淲e鈥檝e never had a problem or an issue with the aid so far,鈥� says Yakzan聽Shishakly, director of the Maram Foundation, which manages aid in the Atmay聽refugee camp in the north of Syria. Speaking about the detention of the UN聽workers, he says, 鈥淎fter only one incident it does not concern me. It would聽concern me if it happened more than one time.鈥�

Mr. Shishakly adds that the detention of the UN peacekeepers is also unique聽as it happened in the Golan Heights, a disputed territory between Israel聽and Syria. The rebels holding the UN staffers say they are not hostages,聽but 鈥済uests鈥� and are now calling for the Syrian government to remove聽artillery from a nearby town to facilitate the safe release UN personnel.聽

Still, lawlessness and instability make distributing aid throughout Syria聽difficult. A little over a month ago, the Free Syrian Army seized a convoy of medical supplies Gassan Yassin was helping deliver. After three days of聽negotiations, the unit agreed to release the supplies.

鈥淔rom that time to now, we鈥檝e been in contact with the FSA to ask for聽protection,鈥� says Mr. Yassin, a member of Najda Now, an aid organization聽that provides food and medicals supplies to Syrians. 鈥淲ith this聽coordination between the FSA and all the organizations we won鈥檛 have these聽incidents repeated.鈥�

Among those in the northwest of Syria, where the opposition controls large聽areas throughout Aleppo, as well as parts of Idlib, Syrians involved in aid聽distribution say that incidents of aid convoys getting hijacked occur no more than once a month. And in most incidents recounted聽by Syrian aid workers, the captured supplies were returned after聽negotiations.

鈥淚t rarely happens. I鈥檝e only heard about two incidents,鈥� says Abu Basal聽Hafar, a member of the Central Committee to Support Aleppo, which collects
money to assist those in need. 鈥淲hen it does happen, it happens because of聽the severe shortages of aid and it makes people revert to criminal聽behavior.鈥�

As with many incidents of criminality inside opposition-controlled Syria,聽residents blame the behavior on convicts the Assad regime reportedly聽released from prison to destabilize rebel-held areas.

鈥淭he regime claimed at the beginning of the revolution that when the聽opposition controlled an area it would not be safe. They did this to prove聽a point,鈥� says Noor al Houry, who runs a grassroots humanitarian aid聽organization in Aleppo. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a big problem because of the size of the聽problem or how frequently it happens or even how much aid is taken, it鈥檚聽the idea that people are stealing from those in need.鈥�