The Security Council on Thursday failed to extend an agreement which has allowed UN to deliver relief to northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing since 2014 after Russia vetoed the draft, sparking international concern for the millions of aid-dependent residents in the area.
“The government of the Syrian Arab Republic has taken the sovereign decision to grant the United Nations and its specialized agencies permission to use 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 the period of six months, starting from July 13, 2023,” read a letter from Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seen by Rudaw English.
I just informed SG @antonioguterres & #SC president that the Syrian Government has taken the sovereign decision to grant the @UN permission to use Bab al-Hawa crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to the Syrian people in northwest Syria for a period of 6 months as of today July 13 pic.twitter.com/qraHavxW39
— Bassam Sabbagh (@AmbSYUN) July 13, 2023
Sabbagh stated that Damascus will continue to work with the UN in humanitarian work, in a way that would contribute to Syria’s recovery and rehabilitation, stressing that international sanctions on the Syrian government must not “interfere with humanitarian relief operations benefitting the Syrians, or their access to basic services.
The Syrian ambassador also warned that the UN should not communicate with the groups in charge of northwest Syria, which he labeled as “terrorist organizations.”
The cross-border mechanism is the only way UN aid, including food, medicine, water, and other critical resources, can be delivered to northwest Syria without having to traverse through areas controlled by the Syrian government.
The province of Idlib in northwest Syria is the last pocket of rebel-held territory in the region and is mainly controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has been internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.
The area’s residents, which include families displaced from across the country, also suffer from dire economic conditions and are heavily reliant on aid for their basic necessities. According to the UN, the humanitarian assistance provided through the cross-border mechanism reached “an average of 2.7 million people every month” in 2022.
