DAMASCUS: Visiting UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called Wednesday for a massive aid boost for Syria to respond to “this moment of hope” after the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“Across the country, the needs are huge. Seven in 10 people are needing support right now,” Fletcher told AFP in a telephone interview as he visited Syria.
“I want to scale up massively international support, but that now depends on donors. The Syria fund has been historically, shamefully underfunded and now there is this opportunity,” he said.
“The Syrian people are trying to come home when it’s safe to do so, to rebuild their country, to rebuild their communities and their lives.
“We have to get behind them and to respond to this moment of hope. And if we don’t do that quickly, then I fear that this window will close.”
Half of Syria’s population were forced from their homes during nearly 14 years of civil war, with millions finding refuge abroad.
UN officials have said a $4 billion appeal for Syria aid is less than a third funded.
“There are massive humanitarian needs... water, food, shelter... There are needs in terms of government services, health, education, and then there are longer term rebuilding needs, development needs,” Fletcher said.
“We’ve got to be ambitious in our ask of donors.
“The Syrian people demand that we deliver, and they’re right to demand that we deliver,” he said. “The world hasn’t delivered for the Syrian people for more than a decade.”
As part of his visit, Fletcher met representatives of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group which spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad, including its leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa and interim prime minister Mohammad Al-Bashir.
Fletcher said he received “the strongest possible reassurances” from Syria’s new administration that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground.
“We need unhindered, unfettered access to the people that we’re here to serve. We need the crossings open so we can get massive amounts of aid through... We need to ensure that humanitarian workers can go where they need to go without restriction, with protection,” he said.
“I received the strongest possible reassurances from the top of that caretaker administration that they will give us that support that we need. Let’s test that now in the period ahead.”
Assad’s government had long imposed restrictions on humanitarian organizations and on aid distribution in areas of the country outside its control.
Fletcher said that the coming period would be “a test for the UN, which hasn’t been able to deliver what we wanted to over a decade now... Can we scale up? Can we gain people’s trust?
“But it’s also a test for the new administration,” he added. “Can they guarantee us a more permissive environment than we had under the Assad regime?
“I believe that we can work in that partnership, but it’s a huge test for all of us.”

JERUSALEM: Efforts to strike a Gaza truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly failed over key stumbling blocks, but recent negotiations have raised hope of an agreement.
On Tuesday, Washington expressed “cautious optimism” on the possibility of an “imminent deal.”
This comes following reported indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar along with Egypt and the United States.
Diplomatic sources told AFP that US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent declaration that a deal should be struck before his return to office on January 20 had an impact on the latest round of talks.
One diplomatic source said that Hamas, isolated after the weakening of its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and the overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, is keen to reach a deal before the end of the year.
“A lot of people see (a deal) as the perfect Christmas gift,” the source said.
Another noted that since Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s death, Hamas leaders abroad, known as more pragmatic than the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, have been conducting negotiations.
A high-ranking Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday that the talks were at the “final details” stage and that Qatar and Egypt would announce the agreement once negotiations end.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer declined to comment on the proposed deal at a media briefing on Wednesday, stating “the less said the better.”
During their attack on Israel on October 7 last year, Palestinian militants led by Hamas seized 251 hostages.
Ninety-six of them are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas officials told AFP that the current framework for a deal would see the implementation of a ceasefire and the gradual release of hostages over three phases.
In the first, six-week phase, Israeli civilian hostages and female soldiers would be released in exchange for “hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
The source close to Hamas said that during this phase, Israel would withdraw its forces “from west of the Rafah crossing” on the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land cleared and controlled by Israel along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Israeli forces would also “partly withdraw” from the Netzarim Corridor, another, wider strip of land cleared and controlled by Israel that splits the territory in two just south of Gaza City, and gradually leave Palestinian refugee camps.
Lastly, the first phase would see the gradual return of displaced residents to Gaza City and the north via the coastal highway under Israeli army monitoring.
The second phase would see the release of Israeli male soldiers in exchange for “a number” of Palestinian prisoners, “including at least 100 with long-term sentences.”
During this phase, Israel would complete its military withdrawal but would maintain forces on the eastern and northern border areas with Israel.
Under the last phase of the proposed deal, “the war will be officially declared over” and reconstruction efforts will begin in the territory where the UN satellite agency said that 66 percent of all structures have been damaged.
Lastly, the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border would be jointly managed by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, in coordination with Egypt and the European Union.
Despite numerous rounds of indirect talks, Israel and Hamas have agreed just one week-long truce at the end of 2023.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel have faced multiple challenges since then, with the primary point of contention being the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly stated that he does not want to withdraw Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor.
One of the diplomatic sources AFP spoke to said Israel would “never” exit the border strip, and at most would leave the small border crossing for others to manage.
Another unresolved issue is the governance of post-war Gaza.
It remains a highly contentious issue, including within the Palestinian leadership.
Israel has said repeatedly that it will not allow Hamas to run the territory ever again.
And while a Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that “Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, the United Nations and the United States will guarantee the implementation of the agreement,” none of them have confirmed that.