Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria’s Idlib province and Turkey’s Hatay province.
“Standing at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border, I saw the life-saving importance of the only remaining UN crossing point into Syria firsthand,” tweeted the ambassador. “Here, every month, over 1,000 UN trucks usher in food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to northwest Syria.”
Bab al-Hawa is the last remaining entry point for aid into rebel-held northwest Syria, packed with some 2.7 million displaced people and ruled by Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamic group subject to UN and US counter-terror sanctions.
Last year, the Security Council could agree to keep just the one access point open to UN humanitarian aid deliveries. Under pressure from Russia, three other border crossings were shut to aid. The mandate for Bab al-Hawa will expire on July 10.
Addressing the Security Council last week, Russia’s envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy said “terrorists” are “rooted in Idlib” and “holding the population of this Syrian region as hostages” and Russia will have to take this into account when voting to renew the cross-border aid delivery mandate.
At the border, Thomas-Greenfield tweeted: “The UN Security Council must reauthorize the last remaining border crossing at Bab al-Hawa so that crucial humanitarian aid can continue to reach millions of vulnerable Syrians who need it.”
The UN estimates 13.4 million people in Syria need some form of assistance.
The US funding announced on Thursday “will support humanitarian partners providing life-saving assistance, including food for displaced families in Syria and the region, and support bakeries in Syria to provide bread to people in need. The assistance will provide psychosocial support and other protection services for children affected by conflict, help repair and rehabilitate water and sanitation systems to protect against COVID-19, deliver critical relief supplies, and support cash and vouchers to help Syrians meet basic needs,” reads a press release from USAID.
