ALBAWABA - The UN Security Council postponed on Monday the vote on renewing permission for the UN to deliver humanitarian aid to northwest parts of Syria which are controlled by the opposition.
The session was scheduled to vote on a resolution drafted by Switzerland and Brazil demanding a 12-month extension of humanitarian aid delivery. However, as expected, Russia expressed its opposition to the resolution and insisted on only a six-month extension.
The UN issued its initial mandate in 2014, allowing aid to enter Syria through four crossings, and it has been annually renewed since then. However, Russia has been threatening to prevent the resolution's renewal every year since 2020.
For nearly a decade, the United Nations has used the Syrian-Turkish border crossing known as the Bab Al-Hawa to access civilians and deliver humanitarian aid to those in need in the areas controlled by the opposition in the northern parts of Syria.
The aid delivery was restricted to Bab Al-Hawa border crossing from originally four crossings over the years when Russia and China vetoed UN resolutions seeking to preserve the cross-border aid lifeline.
The International Rescue Committee said that about 90% of the northwest region’s population are living in poverty and struggling to feed their families. Today, their most vital lifeline hangs in limbo. The UN provides 80% of food aid in northwest Syria and over 70,000 young children depend on UN-funded nutrition programs for their survival, the majority of which travel through the UNSC-authorized Bab al-Hawa crossing.
