Associated Press BEIRUT: A series of U.N. Security Council resolutions passed last year seeking to boost aid access to reach millions of Syrians in desperate need of assistance have had no impact, the head of a prominent humanitarian group said Wednesday.

The Syrian conflict has touched off a devastating humanitarian catastrophe – almost four years into the crisis, some 12.2 million Syrians inside the country are in need of assistance while another 3.8 million now live as refugees in neighboring states.

The Security Council passed three resolutions last year in a bid to increase humanitarian aid in Syria. The latest resolution, which was unanimously approved in December, extended cross-border aid deliveries to Syrians in rebel-held areas without approval from Damascus.

But Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary-General Jan Egeland told The Associated Press the resolutions “have had no impact” and the international community is “not able to do what we should be able to do.”

“We’re failing the Syrians – that’s the honest truth here,” said Egeland, who served as U.N. humanitarian chief from 2003 to 2006. “And the Security Council has failed in enforcing their own resolution.”

The U.N. says that some 4.5 million people in Syria in need of assistance are in hard-to-reach areas, including around 200,000 who live in besieged communities.

Egeland placed much of the blame for the continued poor access on the Syrian government and the armed opposition fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad. But other factors have also played a role.

Neighboring states have hampered cross-border aid deliveries by imposing bureaucratic obstacles that complicate relief work, he said. Financial contributions from donors, meanwhile, have not kept pace with the ever-growing scale of the crisis.

ISIS’ rise also has shifted attention from the humanitarian toll of Syria’s war to combatting extremism.

In the rush to counter the militants, Egeland urged the international community not to forget about Syria’s civilians.

He said that ISIS“is part of our problem, it’s not the problem.”