Can the world provide Syrians with aid from above?

Syrians gather around Syrian Arab Red Crescent truck bringing aid to Douma, Syria

The fact that Bashar al-Assad is denying humanitarian access is precisely why it's important to provide it.

As the United Nations correctly says, Syria has become one of the most "complex and dynamic humanitarian crises in the world today". The scale and intensity of the fighting has been accentuated by the targeting of critical civilian infrastructure, with hospitals, schools and bakeries regularly struck.


Humanitarian access to relieve people living in affected areas is extremely limited. There are 4.6 million Syrians in hard-to-reach areas and close to 500,000 people in besieged areas where stories of starvation are becoming depressingly frequent.

This is not an accident but rather part of a deliberate ploy to use human suffering as a strategy of warfare.
In response to the continued challenge of getting aid to those who desperately need it and stopping people from starving to death, the idea of air drops has suddenly become a very real prospect.

At a meeting in April, US Secretary of State John Kerry explained: "Starting on June 1, if the UN is denied humanitarian access to any of these designated areas, the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) calls on the World Food Programme to immediately carry out a programme for air bridges and air drops to all of those areas in need."