The security council voted today on a resolution in a last ditch attempt to extend cross-border aid deliveries to war-torn Syria that expire on Friday. The split council had failed to reach an agreement earlier this week.
Late on Thursday, Russia circulated a draft resolution to authorize just one border crossing between Turkey and Syria after it and China vetoed an earlier motion to renew authorization of several crossings essential for getting humanitarian aid to civilians in Syria, including Iraq’s al-Yarubiyah crossing with the Kurdish-administered northeast.
Russia – a main backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – wants all humanitarian aid to enter through regime-held areas, forcing the Kurdish-majority region to rely on aid deliveries from distant Damascus. Border crossings with Iraq and Jordan were shut to aid under Russian pressure earlier this year.
Germany and Belgium submitted a compromise proposal that would keep open two existing border crossings – Bab al-Salam between Turkey and Syria’s Aleppo province and Bab al-Hawa between Turkey and Idlib – for six months.
Thirteen countries voted in favour of the German-Belgium draft, but Russia and China opposed it, AFP reported. Russia's proposal for limited aid delivery through one border crossing may now be put to a vote.
The vetoing of cross-border aid delivery is a “dark day for the UN” said David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee.
“The second veto in a week shows a determination that defies logic or humanity to dismantle a system designed to bring life-saving aid to Syrians in the form of food, health supplies, vaccines, and now critical COVID-19 provisions,” said Miliband.
Rebel-held Idlib recorded its first coronavirus case on Thursday, sparking fears that the highly contagious virus may spread through crowded camps where healthcare is limited.
After more than nine years of conflict, the United Nations estimates 90 percent of the Syrian population is living in poverty and the World Food Program warns that the country faces a risk of mass starvation.
The closure of the al-Yarubiyah crossing is having a “catastrophic” effect on northeast Syria, due to “the lack of medicines, proper medical care, the inability of hospitals to remain functioning,” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, told Rudaw English this week.
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