Most U.N. aid going to Assad’s territory

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is under pressure to ratchet up aid to nongovernmental organizations that can operate in the vast sections of Syria under opposition control. Most of the humanitarian relief sponsored by the organization ends up in the western slice of the country held by President Bashar Assad.

Because of intensified conflict on the ground, more than 85 percent of food aid and more than 70 percent of medicines went to government-held areas in the first three months of this year, compared with roughly an even split a year ago, the U.N. said.

That stark inequity is likely to inflame the sentiments of Western and Arab donors who already are leaning on U.N. agencies to divert aid from the government to zones under the control of Assad’s opponents.

That, senior U.N. officials say, is easier said than done. Trucking in aid from Turkey, without the government’s consent, would risk expulsion from the country. That would end U.N. deliveries of relief to more than 4 million people who live in government-held areas.

John Ging, who manages field operations worldwide for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the agencies had been told by the government that they would be kicked out of government-held parts of the country if they crossed its border without the state’s consent.

“The calculation of what to do in the face of such threats and obstruction is very complex; history will judge as to whether we got it right or wrong,” Ging said. “In the meantime, we will never accept being blocked from saving lives and have appealed to the Security Council for help.”

About 2 million Syrians are deep inside the country, and getting food and medicines to them means crossing front lines and then checkpoints manned by armed opposition groups. Only some groups have agreed to let U.N. aid convoys pass through.