Syria authorized the United Nations to use a key border crossing for humanitarian aid from Turkey on condition that all deliveries are coordinated with Damascus.
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh announced on Thursday that his government would grant permission for the U.N. and its agencies to deliver aid in rebel-held Syrian territory using the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey.
The permission would last for six months, he said after delivering letters to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the U.N. Security Council, and requires the U.N. to act in "full cooperation and coordination with the government."
Earlier in the week the frequently deadlocked 15-nation Security Council – where Syria's main ally Russia hold one of the five permanent veto-wielding seats – failed to renew the six-month authorization for more aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. Syria vetoed the reauthorization proposal.
International Rescue Committee President condemned Russia's veto and said council members must be "guided by humanitarian imperatives rather than politics, and ensure Syrians in need, wherever they are, can be reached through the most direct routes." He urged the council to urgently reauthorize use of the key Syria-Turkey border crossing at Bab al-Hawa for another year.
A vital lifeline
The border crossing is essential for more than 4 million uprooted people in Syria who depend on humanitarian aid. Control over it now effectively shifts to Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has waged war for more than a decade to crush the opposition while effectively gutting his own country.
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing, already a vital lifeline, became even more significant after a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck northwest Syria in February, killing more than 4,500 people and displacing 50,000 families.
After the earthquake hit Assed opened two additional crossing points from Turkey, at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai, to allow aid into his country until mid-August. The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan through four crossing points into opposition-held areas in Syria.
But over the years, Russia, backed by China, another veto-wielding permanent Security Council member, reduced the authorized crossings to just Bab al-Hawa. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 85% of U.N. aid to northwest Syria was trucked in through Bab al-Hawa, but some pre-positioned supplies were there.
