UN vote allows aid shipments into Syria at Bab Al Hawa to go on
The UN Security Council extended the mandate for aid deliveries into north-western Syria from Turkey following disagreements between Russia, the US and other members over the scope of the humanitarian operation.
On Friday, the 15-nation council voted unanimously for a resolution allowing Bab Al Hawa crossing to remain open until January 10, next year, while allowing for another six-month extension subject to a report from UN officials.
The deal fell far short of what the US and others wanted – a straightforward one-year extension of the mandate and the reopening of other routes that were shut last year.
This disagreement was regarded as a test for US-Russia cooperation after the summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin last month in Geneva, when they discussed the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The White House said Mr Biden spoke to Mr Putin about Syria during their discussions on Friday.
“The leaders commended the joint work of their respective teams following the US-Russia summit that led to the unanimous renewal of cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria today in the UN Security Council,” the White House said.
Russia, a veto-holding member of the council and an ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, wanted aid to go through Damascus and not from Turkey on the grounds that the operation breached Syrian sovereignty and helped Syrian rebel groups.
Under the terms of the resolution, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres must report back to the council about aid transparency and progress on cross-line routes from government-held territory into rebel-held areas.
The north-western Idlib region, accessible by Bab Al Hawa, is the last rebel stronghold against the government of Mr Al Assad, who has largely regained control of Syria after a decade of civil war that left the country in ruins.
An earlier version of the resolution, drafted by Ireland and Norway, proposed two crossings.
Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, pushed hard for checkpoints to be reopened. She visited the Turkey-Syria border to draw attention to the plight of civilians.
But ultimately, Russia’s veto power and the looming threat of a Bab Al Hawa closure and aid supplies drying up after yesterday, when the previous mandate expired, nudged the US and others into a compromise.
Louis Charbonneau, a UN expert for the campaign group Human Rights Watch, said Russia had once again “successfully blackmailed” the Security Council into limiting aid flows into Syria.
Mr Charbonneau said Russia’s actions showed its “cynical lack of concern for the lives of millions of Syrians dependent on humanitarian aid”.
“While it’s good that some UN cross-border aid will continue to flow into the north-west, many people in the north-east will be denied aid.”
The council first authorised cross-border aid operations into Syria in 2014 at four points: Bab Al Hawa between Turkey and Syria’s Idlib region; Bab Al Salam between Turkey and northern Syria; Al Ramtha near the Jordanian border; and Al Yaroubia on the north-east frontier with Iraq.
Last year, the council cut access back to Bab Al Hawa alone because of opposition from Russia and China.
Russia said that western countries politicised the issue.
Kerem Kinik, chairman of the Turkish Red Crescent, said the UN and aid agencies could find ways to take deliveries into Syria, even after a Security Council mandate lapses.
Mr Kinik told Reuters that there was a legal basis to continue delivering aid into Syria and contingency plans were in place.
“If a United Nations agency … signs an agreement in Turkey on delivering cross-border aid with a partner – or even with Kizilay [the Turkish Red Crescent] for example – this would mean a different mechanism type is in effect,” Mr Kinik said.