Robert Chelhod , president of the Seeds of Hope Council in Syria, is in Europe these days to meet with various groups that support our actions in Syria. In the wake of the news that reaches us from his country, we reached him by phone to understand what is happening in Aleppo and – above all – how to continue to guarantee aid and support to the Syrian population.
Robert, what’s happening in Syria?
A pro-Islamic liberation front, probably supported by Türkiye and other foreign powers, first invaded the villages in 
south and west of Aleppo; then, suddenly, he entered the city with the intention of, as they say, “re-establishing a new order”. It is clear that there is an agreement between the powers, but where will it lead us? Will there be a partition of Syria? I only hope that everything happens without too much violence.
What is the situation in Aleppo today?
There are clashes with the Syrian army. Christians are afraid because they are a minority, which has already been subject to restrictions in the past. My fear is that it could happen as in all wars: civilians used as human shields.
What is the psychological condition of the population?
Instability, fear, insecurity. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, how this new war will evolve.
Can you leave the city?
Those who want to leave Aleppo cannot take the main highway, which is completely blocked. The only way is to take a secondary road, which is not at all comfortable now and is overcrowded. To reach Homs, via there, it takes eight hours by car instead of the normal two. There is fear of internal immigration. Those who managed to leave the city immediately after the rebel occupation are heading towards the capital, Damascus, and the Homs region. But getting there is becoming more difficult by the hour.
How are those who remain in Aleppo living?
The population of Aleppo is locked in their homes. Schools and offices are closed, no one knows for how long. Our office is also closed, at least for a week. We only work from home. There was no water for a few days, but it came back. Diesel was already rationed before, now the situation has worsened: heating is almost impossible. Everything you can find has exorbitant prices. There are lines in the shops to buy bread, but I fear that the minimarkets will soon run out of supplies.
What do you think will happen now?
I have the impression that it will not end soon. The situation will remain like this for a long time, as it happened after 2012. It is true that the armed conflict had stopped for a long time, but we were living in a situation of very fragile peace and one could imagine that one day everything would blow up again.
What are the most urgent needs?
I spoke to Nour, the director of the office: we are in an emergency again. Many people do not have liquidity, it is almost impossible to withdraw money from the bank for those who have an account. There are people who are having difficulty buying medicine.
We need to meet these most urgent needs. So now our actions in Aleppo will be reorganized in this sense and will transform into assistance to the population . In other cities, however, at the moment our projects – RestarT and Seeds of Hope – are continuing normally. The real problem is the funds, we urgently need to raise funds to help the population of Aleppo and to ensure the continuation of the projects in other cities.
In your opinion, will the Syrians be able to overcome this latest test?
We didn’t want this new conflict. We are all very tired. People are desperate. Syrians are very resilient, but hope is shaky. Those who have faith have this support that comes from above and try to stay close to others, to love. But it is difficult to talk about hope, it is difficult to ask the Syrian people to continue to hope. A utopia.
What can we do?
Pray a lot for peace and put pressure on Western governments to find a political solution in the Middle East. You Europeans must act to stop producing weapons, otherwise there will always be a war somewhere in the world.
