Moscow: A new migration crisis is brewing in Syria, as the US and its allies provoke a humanitarian catastrophe, the joint Russia-Syria coordination center on refugee repatriation said on Thursday ahead of the EU summit.
Russia’s Mikhail Mizintsev and Syria’s Hussein Makhlouf, who head the center, accused the US and its allies of pursuing a policy of harsh restrictions aimed at “economically strangling” Syria and isolating it from the global community. The difficult economic situation leads to a slowdown in the Syrian refugees return, the coordination center added.
“The damage that Americans and their satellites inflicted on the Syrian state is leading to a humanitarian catastrophe that could trigger a new migration crisis. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the number of Syrian citizens in need has increased, while the US and the Western countries do not accept responsibility for the catastrophe,” the statement read.
The coordination center expressed “serious concerns” over the fact that this situation is emerging on the eve of the EU summit in Brussels. According to the statement, the summit convenes without participation of the Syrian government and is “actually used as a platform for developing new sanctions.”
“At the same time, EU representatives keep claiming commitment to Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but ‘turn a blind eye to’ illegal occupation of its territory and misappropriation of national wealth carried out by the US and its allies,” the statement concluded.