Posted in: 10/07/2022 – 15:21
A local official has warned that millions of residents of opposition-held areas in northwest Syria could be deprived of vital humanitarian aid within weeks. The panic came after Russia vetoed the Security Council’s extension of the UN’s mandate for cross-border aid delivery. This mechanism, which allows the transfer of aid through a single crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border, through which aid can be transferred to the areas controlled by the fighting factions in Idlib, without passing through the areas controlled by the Syrian government, expires on Sunday.
Residents of opposition-controlled areas Syrian may be deprived of Vital humanitarian aid Within weeks, that’s what a local official has warned if the Security Council does not extend the UN’s mandate that expires on Sunday to deliver aid across the border.
Russia used its veto on Friday during a vote by the United Nations Security Council on a draft resolution to extend the mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian aid across the border to Syria without the consent of Damascus for one year, and Moscow only accepted the extension of the mandate for six months.
The non-permanent members of the council may propose a new nine-month extension in an effort to find a solution. But no new agreement had been reached until Sunday morning, threatening to deprive millions of this aid.
This mechanism, which allows the transfer of aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, ends on Sunday اThe Syrian-Turkish borderThe only way through which aid can be transported to the areas controlled by the fighting factions in Idlib (northwest) and its environs, without passing through the areas controlled by the Syrian government.
An ‘inadequate’ contingency plan
“As of today, there is no clear information about the mechanism that will be dealt with during the coming period,” Mazen Alloush, director of the public relations office at the Bab al-Hawa crossing (northwest), told AFP.
He added that “there is an emergency plan for the partner organizations of the United Nations working in the liberated areas” in the event that the mandate of the United Nations is not extended, but “it is not enough for the citizens’ needs for more than one month.”
The Bab al-Hawa crossing was closed on Sunday for the second consecutive day due to the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Alloush explained that in the event that no mechanism is found for the entry of aid across the border, the Bab al-Hawa crossing “will remain open to the movement of travelers, patients and relief convoys” not affiliated with the United Nations, including aid from Turkish charities.
Senior UN officials and aid workers have repeatedly warned that aid delivery in this way cannot replace UN cross-border operations, both in scope and scale.
The UN mechanism has been in force since 2014, and allows the transfer of aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border for more than 2.4 million people in the Idlib region (northwest), which is under the control of jihadist and opposition groups.
More than 4,600 aid trucks crossed the border this year alone, most of which carried food items, according to data from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
FRANCE 24/AFP