NSC STATEMENT ON YARMOUK REFUGEE CAMP SITUATION

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 10, 2015
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Situation in Yarmouk Refugee Camp

We welcome UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s statement on the situation in Yarmouk refugee camp, and join him in calling for an end to hostilities, access for humanitarian assistance, and safe passage for civilians who wish to escape safely.

The Yarmouk camp has been besieged by the Syrian regime for nearly two years, and its residents have been denied access to food, potable water, and medical supplies.  Those Palestinian refugees living inside the camp are now caught between ISIL and the Syrian regime, which continues to indiscriminately attack civilians, including with artillery and barrel bombs, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2139.

All parties must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.  The siege of Yarmouk must be lifted and the safe evacuation of civilians must be allowed.  Civilians who manage to leave Yarmouk must be granted immediate and safe passage; families must not be separated; and departing civilians must not be detained.  We further call on the Syrian regime to halt aerial bombardment in order to allow civilians to leave the camp.

We applaud the efforts of the UN Relief and Works Agency to help protect civilians in Yarmouk.  Across Syria, more than 440,000 people are trapped in communities besieged by the Syrian Regime, ISIL and other armed groups.  The terrible toll the war has taken on Syria’s civilians underscores the urgent need for a political solution to end the fighting.  It also highlights the profound need for the perpetrators of sieges and atrocities against the civilian population to be held accountable.

DOD SAYS U.S. AND BRITAIN HAVE FLOWN SEVERAL AIRDROPS SINCE AUGUST 7TH

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

By Claudette Roulo

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2014 – The United States and Britain have flown 14 humanitarian airdrops since Aug. 7 to Yezidi refugees in the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq, a Defense Department official said today.

The Yezidis, a Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious minority group, fled into the mountain area as terrorist forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant advanced from Syria and northward in Iraq, threatening the Kurdish region. More than 310 bundles of food, water and medical supplies have been delivered to the refugees, providing about 16,000 gallons of water and 75,000 meals, said Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Staff told a Pentagon briefing. 

“In concert with our military partners, the U.S. military is responding to the United Nations security requests of the international community to do everything it can to provide food, water, shelter to those affected by this humanitarian crisis,” he said.

In addition, U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, including F-15E Strike Eagles, F/A-18 Super Hornets and MQ-1 Predators, have executed 15 targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. citizens and forces in and around Erbil, Mayville said.

“These airstrikes have helped check the advance of ISIL forces around Sinjar and in the area west of Erbil,” he said.

Damage assessments from the airstrikes are less important than their secondary results, Mayville said, which has been a reduction to the overall threat faced by the refugees and U.S. personnel and facilities.

The current operations in Iraq are limited to protecting U.S. citizens and facilities and U.S. aircraft supporting humanitarian assistance, and to assisting in the breakup of ISIL forces that are besieging the Sinjar Mountains, the general said.

“There are no plans to expand the current air campaign beyond the current self-defense activities,” he noted. “ ...We're going to do what we need to do to protect our facilities, protect our embassy, to protect our American citizens, and to reduce this siege, as well as protect those aircraft that are providing support to Mount Sinjar,” Mayville said.

More than 60 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft are supporting coalition efforts in Iraq, the general said, and U.S. airstrikes are providing Kurdish security forces with time to fortify their defensive positions using supplies they have received from the central government of Baghdad. About 50 to 60 ISR flights are being conducted daily by U.S. aircraft, Mayville noted.

“As a result, the Kurdish security forces are holding territory in the vicinity of Erbil,” he said, “and it has been reported in the media they retook key communities near Erbil itself.”

While U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq have slowed ISIL's operational tempo and temporarily disrupted their advance toward Erbil, Mayville said, the “strikes are unlikely to affect ISIL's overall capabilities or its operations in other areas of Iraq and Syria.”

ISIL is still intent on securing and gaining territory throughout Iraq, he said, and it will continue to attack Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, Yezidis, Christians and other minorities.

“I think, in the immediate areas where we have focused our strikes, we've had a very temporary effect,” the general said. “And we may have blunted some tactical decisions to move in those directions and move further east to Erbil.

“What I expect the ISIL to do is to look for other things to do, to pick up and move elsewhere. So I in no way want to suggest that we have effectively contained or that we are somehow breaking the momentum of the threat posed by ISIL,” he said.

Over the weekend, the government of Iraq and Iraqi security forces re-supplied Kurdish forces, Mayville said, noting that the department is considering additional ways to support the Kurds and also examining the possibility of expanding the support provided by an assessment team in Baghdad.

“We are, right now, gripped by the immediacy of the crisis,” the general said. “And our focus right now is to provide immediate relief to those that are suffering.”

U.S. COUNTERS RUSSIAN INTERVENTION IN UKRAINE DOD OFFICIAL TELLS SENATE COMMITTEE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

DOD Works to Counter Russian Intervention in Ukraine

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2014 – The Defense Department is working with the State Department and NATO allies to provide reassurance, deterrence and support to Ukraine, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.
The U.S. government’s response to Russia’s actions in the region is being done carefully and without taking actions that would escalate the crisis, Evelyn N. Farkas said.

“Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, followed by blatant and unconcealed efforts to eastern and southern Ukraine, signifies a paradigm shift in our relations with Russia,” she said. “Despite Russia’s efforts to portray the situation otherwise, this crisis is entirely one of its choosing. These actions represent a wholesale rejection of the idea of a Europe whole, free and at peace.”
Farkas listed the DOD contributions to Ukraine. Soon after Russia moved into Crimea, the department delivered 329,000 packaged meals to support forces in the field. DOD also has sent uniforms, medical supplies and other nonlethal equipment to Ukrainian armed forces and border guards.

All told, this adds up to about $18 million of aid to date, she said. “Looking ahead,” she added, “we will use all available tools to provide meaningful cost-effective support to Ukraine’s security institutions.”

DOD officials also continue to engage with their Ukrainian counterparts, Farkas said, noting that a high-level meeting is scheduled next month.

The United States has also taken prompt and high-profile steps to reassure NATO allies in light of Russian activity in Ukraine, Farkas said. These include a stepped up maritime presence in the Black Sea and the deployment of additional combat aircraft to the Baltic republics and to Poland.

“Last week, 600 paratroopers arrived in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to begin exercises requested by those nations,” she said. “These exercises are the first in a series of activities that will take place over the next few months and beyond.”

The United States is also taking steps to support non-NATO partners – such as Moldova and Georgia – that feel threatened by Russia’s actions, she said.
And the United States is not alone, Farkas told the panel.

“Since the start of this crisis, our NATO allies have acted with resolve. As we approach the NATO summit in Wales this fall, we will continue to urge all NATO allies to increase support to these reassurance measures, including by bolstering their individual commitments to allied security by robust defense investment.”
These measures represent a clear eastward shift of allied forces, she said, specifically intended to counter Russia’s aggressive actions.