The Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province will remain open to humanitarian aid for one year. The German-Belgium proposal was approved by 12 of 15 Security Council members, with Russia and China abstaining from the vote, AFP reported.
UN Security Council authorization allows UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria without approval from Damascus. Earlier this year, under Russian pressure, the UN closed border crossings with Jordan and Iraq, leaving just two with Turkey open. That measure expired on Friday. The council voted several times this week on several counterproposals from Belgium and Germany seeking to approve aid deliveries through multiple border crossings, and Russia trying to centralize aid through Damascus or imposing conditions.
In a joint statement, Germany and Belgium said they were “relieved that a compromise has been reached.”
“One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question,” read the statement.
Russia said it was "disappointed" with how the Security Council handled the matter, accusing its fellow members of "politicizing" the issue.
"I want to reassure you that Russia is consistently in favor of humanitarian deliveries to Syria in full respect of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in coordination with its legal government. This issue should not be politicized. But the discussions we have today are not about humanitarian deliveries to Syria. We all support this. Our discussion is about politics, and I want to make it absolutely clear," read remarks from Dmitry Polyanskiy, first deputy representative of Russia to the UN.
Now in its tenth year, the Syrian conflict has devastated the population. The UN estimates 90 percent of the country lives in poverty, the World Food Program has warned the country faces mass starvation, and the damaged health system is not equipped to handle an outbreak of COVID-19.
On Saturday, a fourth case of coronavirus, an ambulance technician, was confirmed in Idlib. Three million people, half of whom were displaced from other regions of the country, live in the northwestern province. More than a third are living in tents.
International aid agencies condemned the Security Council’s failure to keep an aid lifeline open at the Bab al-Salam crossing between Aleppo and Turkey, and failed to re-open the al-Yaroubiya crossing between Iraq and the Kurdish-administered northeast.
Samah Hadid of the Norwegian Refugee Council warned that scaled-back aid will "set back efforts to contain covid19. Suffering will continue & lives will be lost," she tweeted.
It’s deeply concerning that the UNSC voted to scale back humanitarian aid to millions of Syrians acutely vulnerable. With a weakened health system, shortage of medical supplies, this move will set back efforts to contain covid19. Suffering will continue & lives will be lost
— Samah Hadid سماح (@samahhadid) July 12, 2020
“Blocking access to food, medicine and ventilators defies all logic in the face of a pandemic that shows no sign of abating globally. The Council should urgently revisit the decision made today and restore previous levels of access to both the Northeast and Northwest – lest even more innocent civilian lives are lost,” said David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee.
The “Security Council has effectively left vulnerable Syrians behind and facing a critical shortage of medical supplies at a time where they are needed most,” said Mercy Corps.
Updated at 10:33 am
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