UN sends 50 tons of assistance to NW Syria via Bab al-Hawa border crossing
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday UN organizations sent the first humanitarian convoy to Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria, via Bab al-Hawa border crossing since Security Council Resolution 2672 expired on July 10.
The UNICEF, International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) sent 17 trucks carrying 50 tons of assistance. UN staff also conducted three cross-border missions to areas in northwest Syria, two to Idlib via Bab al-Hawa crossing, according to the OCHA.
The humanitarian convoy included “hygiene kits and educational items for some 46,000 people, nutrition support for 10,000 babies, tents and non-food items for 5,000 people, and enough supplies for 260,000 medical procedures.”
The OCHA also did a monitoring visit to hospitals supported by the Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF).
The organization also said additional UN missions and truck movements are planned in the coming days.
In 2023, the UN sent more than 4,000 aid trucks from Turkey to northwest Syria using the Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salama and al-Rai border crossings. UN personnel also completed 220 cross-border missions, according to the OCHA.
In July 2014, the United Nations Security Council (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-Salama 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-Salama 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.
The closure of the al-Ya’rubiyah crossing is a blatant politicization of the humanitarian situation in northeast Syria, said Badran Chiya Kurd, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) on Jan. 6.
Despite successive calls by the AANES and operating organizations in the region for the urgent need to open the crossing, the Russian and Chinese vetoes were always there, keeping the community’s needs in limbo.