Syria allows UN to use major aid crossing towards opposition control areas

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, announced on Thursday that Damascus would allow humanitarian aid to cross through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the main crossing from Turkey to areas not controlled by the Syrian government in northwestern Syria, for a period of six months.

The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, told the press that Damascus "has made the sovereign decision to allow the United Nations and its specialized agencies to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing to deliver humanitarian assistance to civilians in need in northwestern Syria, in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government, for a period of six months starting from July 13th."

When asked about the message received by Antonio Guterres via mail, his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), "We have just received the message, and we are studying it."

The mechanism established in 2014 allowed the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid to the population in opposition-controlled areas in northwestern Syria without the permission of the Syrian government, which had consistently criticized this mechanism as a violation of its sovereignty.

However, the effectiveness of this mechanism ended on Monday after the failure of the United Nations Security Council to extend it. On Tuesday, Russia exercised its veto power to thwart the extension of the mechanism for nine months, while the Council rejected an alternative proposal by Russia on Tuesday with a majority of ten votes (two in favor and three abstentions) that called for a six-month extension of the mechanism.

The United Nations says that four million people in northwestern Syria, mostly women and children, are in need of humanitarian assistance to survive after years of conflict, economic crises, disease outbreaks, and the worsening poverty exacerbated by the devastating February earthquake.

 

 

 

 

AFP