UN urges international parties to extend aid deliveries to NW Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – There are five foreign armies within Syria and civilians continue to be injured and killed, amid violent clashes, regular mutual bombing across northeast and northwest the country, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Monday.
It was disappointing that the UN cross-border relief operations could not be extended two weeks ago, Pedersen told ambassadors during a briefing in the UN Security Council.
The authorization of a mechanism of aid delivery expired on July 10, following the last reauthorization for six months on January 10. The following day, Russia vetoed the UN Security Council (UNSC) compromise resolution that would have extended aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which connects Turkey and opposition-held northwest Syria, for nine months.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had pushed for a 12-month renewal.
“How are the Syrians meant to believe that some broader progress is possible, … if consensus on humanitarian basics among international parties is elusive?” , Pedersen wondered.
Pedersen called on the Syrian government to work proactively with the UN, and stressed the need for “constructive and coordinated international diplomacy”.
For his part, Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), informed ambassadors of the letter his office had received from the Syrian government granting the UN permission to use Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, northwest Syria, to deliver assistance in northwest.
Throughout Syria, conditions continue to deteriorate, with the price of essential food commodities surging by over 90 percent in 2023, Rajasingham continued.
Assistance to up to 40 percent of them, or 2.5 million people, have been discontinued this month due to funding shortfalls, OCHA Director added.
In July 2014, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2165 which authorized the UN to deliver cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria through four border crossings al-Ramtha crossing with Jordan, Bab al-Salameh and Bab al-Hawa, and al-Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) with Iraq, without the consent of the Syrian government.
In January 2020, UN Res. 2504 was adopted which reduced the number of border crossings to only Bab al-Salameh and Bab al-Hawa for six months open to renewal in a special meeting by the UNSC.
Since July 2020, Bab al-Hawa has been the only crossing kept open to UN aid based on Resolution 2533 (2020), while the use of the others was curtailed.