2023-07-13 23:03:11
Syria’s representative to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, announced on Thursday that Damascus will allow, within a period of 6 months, the passage of humanitarian aid through Bab al-Hawa, the main border crossing from Turkey to areas not controlled by the regime in the northwest of the country.
Sabbagh said – during a press conference – that Damascus “has taken the sovereign decision to allow the United Nations and its competent agencies to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in need in northwest Syria, in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government for a period of 6 months, starting from July 13.” “.
The Syrian decision came after Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said that the latter is working to reactivate the mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid to Syria.
Dujarric said, Thursday, that Guterres called for extending the period of the aid delivery mechanism, which ended two days ago, for an additional 12 months.
He added that the Secretary-General of the United Nations is holding meetings and talks on the matter, expressing his hope that his efforts will be crowned with success.
Russia vetoed last Tuesday a UN Security Council resolution seeking to extend the mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid across the Turkish border.
Russia voted against the resolution, which aims to extend the aid delivery mechanism for a period of 9 months through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, after the end of the mandate for the mechanism last Monday.
This mechanism, which was established in 2014, allowed the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid to the population in opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria, without the permission of the Syrian government, which has always condemned it as a violation of its sovereignty.
The United Nations says that 4 million people in northwestern Syria, most of them women and children, are in constant need of humanitarian assistance, after years of conflict, economic crises, disease outbreaks and increasing poverty exacerbated by a devastating earthquake that struck the region and southern Turkey last February.
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