Syria is a Death Trap for Civilians
ANDERSON: It is just after half past 7. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. This is our Middle East broadcast hub. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Welcome back. this was yesterday in Homs, in Syria, a cloud of boom, a marker of fresh destruction. Syrian government planes targeting the city with four air strikes. An effort to fully arrest it from opposition control, but the gray plume nothing new. This is footage from 2015, a scene too often on repeat. The images of war all to eerily similar. Here in 2012, a sign of conflict hangs over Homs, something we have seen before and something we cannot and should not ignore. A grim deja vu with all too real effects on the people living there. This is nothing new to you for those who watch this show on a regular basis. We have been telling this story now for seven years. Joining me now is the man tasked with bringing relief to those who are on the move in the midst of relentless war, Filippo Grandi is the UN High Commissioner for refugees and is in our Dubai studio this evening. Sir, I want our viewers to hear how you described Syria just a few days ago. Stand by.</s>FILIPPO GRANDI, UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: The fact remains that it's very difficult to get out of the country, so people get internally displaced. So, they are refugees in their own country and even those options are becoming less and less. We've seen it in the most dramatic face of the Ghouta offensive. So, the country is becoming a trap. It's becoming in some places a death trap for civilians.</s>ANDERSON: Filippo, hasn't Syria been a death trap for some time now?</s>GRANDI: Yes indeed, perhaps for the past seven years. But it is more and more so. I think the options for people that are -- for people that are being bombed, being chased out of their homes, being subjected to the most terrible violence, the options are shrinking. Displacement is a terrible choice, but it is an option for people that are under pressure. And in some places like Ghouta but elsewhere as well we have seen even that option eluding them. This is -- you know, it cannot get much worse than this.</s>ANDERSON: You've said, and I quote, Idlib is an area where a lot of fighters have no transferred to. If fighting moves more decisively to that area you've said, it could be very dangerous for civilians. And you went on to warn that people will have nowhere to flee because Turkey's southern border with Syria at Gaziantep is tightly controlled. This seems like a crazy question to be asking you and I've asked you before, just how concerned are you for people?</s>GRANDI: Of course, we are very concerned. We're very concerned. We all know that in Idlib a lot fighters that were in other areas have been gathered. So the potential there for very acrimonious, very ruthless fighting is high. Unless there is any form of political agreement before. What really needs to turn out -- and yesterday you know there was the big conference on aid to Syria. It was in Brussels. And everybody spoke about getting away from the military logic and back into the political dynamics. Everybody talks about that. But we really need -- those that make decisions really need to drive the process in that direction. Because what is prevailing for the ordinary Syrian is still very much the military dynamic.</s>ANDERSON: Right, and our viewers will be asking themselves, haven't we heard this narrative again, and again, and again. Of course, a political solution is the best solution. Meantime, on the ground there are military wins for the regime on a daily basis.</s>GRANDI: Yes, you're quite right. But you know, what options do humanitarian organizations like mine have other than reiterate over and over again that the suffering of civilians is unbearable. You know, the only other thing that we can do is actually try to help these people. And God knows how much were doing to help them. Inside Syria and for the 5 1/2 million refugees that are outside -- that have gone outside Syria.</s>ANDERSON: Let's talk about that. You need $9 billion. $9 billion to keep lifesaving aid going to over 22 million people. Those are the numbers. Those are the cold facts. Donors gathered in Brussels recently but only $4.4 billion, as I understand it, was pledge. That is a lot of numbers but what it amounts to is a massive funding shortfall. And if you don't have that money, Filippo, what happens? What gets cut? Who doesn't get the help that they so desperately need?</s>GRANDI: We first of all, you have to always put things in a little bit in perspective. Right? Pledging conferences are very important. And this one was important. It reiterated our call that we should not forget Syrians. And I think there was a response. We are not forgetting Syrians. The pledges -- more pledges will follow. There's countries like the United States and other countries that said that they will pledge subsequently depending on their budgetary cycle. So, I hope that figure will grow. But if it doesn't grow enough, we will have to do less than what we want to do. And you know what always gets cut. It's the longer-term, the apparently less urgent aspects of aid. Like education for example or trying to give people livelihoods. And this is bad because when you are in your eighth year of exile, in your eighth year of displacement, you cannot afford any more to do without longer-term assistance. You cannot afford any more to lose out on education, on jobs and so forth.</s>ANDERSON: You allude to the U.S. and others and generally we talk about the West and its moneys that it's providing according to budgets for this sort of aid. What about other regions? What about, for example, here, the Gulf?</s>GRANDI: There were pledges by Gulf countries. I don't have the exact figures here, but I think they were between $300 and $400 million. I hope, once again, that more is to come. And I hope that there will be also assistance, even bilateral assistance, to the countries neighboring Syria. We should not forget that they are the ones bearing the biggest brunt of the presence of 5.5 million refugees. They, the host communities -- you know, one quarter of the world refugees are Syrians. And one quarter of the Syrian population are refugees. So, these are staggering proportions. So, we need to think of that dimension as well.</s>ANDERSON: Filippo Grandi is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Sir, it's good having you on. Good to hear the story and your message. Thank you for joining me. Just ahead, British lawmakers aren't giving Theresa May the easy road. We'll get to the British Parliament for the latest challenge to her plans for a split from the European Union.