ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday failed to extend a crucial cross-border aid lifeline into rebel-held northwest Syria after Russia vetoed the vote, casting the future of millions of aid-dependent residents in the area into doubt.
Russia, a key Syrian regime ally, vetoed a draft resolution proposed by Brazil and Switzerland to extend cross-border aid deliveries into rebel-held northwest Syria by nine months. The last agreement expired on Monday. The United States and the United Kingdom were among the nations that called for a full-year extension while Russia proposed just six months, but ultimately the Council did not reach an agreement.
“There is no rational or moral argument to veto this resolution,” tweeted Barbara Woodward, British ambassador to the UN who currently holds the presidency of the council.
“Russia has yet again used their veto to restrict life-saving humanitarian access to four million Syrian people.”
— UK at the UN 🇬🇧🇺🇳 (@UKUN_NewYork) July 11, 2023
🇬🇧 @BWoodward_UN
The UK and 12 other Council members voted to renew cross-border aid access for nine months. Russia vetoed it.
⬇️ Our explanation of vote ⬇️ #UNSC
American Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the US will continue to make efforts to renew the mechanism. “Russia owns this failure. And it’s up to them to come to the negotiating table in good faith,” she said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “disappointed” that the Council was unable to reach an agreement to extend the cross-border lifeline. “The Secretary-General calls on all Security Council members to redouble their efforts to support the continued delivery of cross-border assistance to millions of people in dire need in north-west Syria for the longest possible period,” said his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
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.
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