(United Nations) Syria has extended by three months the authorization to deliver humanitarian aid to rebel areas affected by the earthquake through two cross-border crossings from Turkey, the United Nations announced on Saturday.
After a UN request and as that authorization was about to expire, Damascus “authorized the UN to continue using the Bab al-Salama and al-Rai border crossings for three more months”, the court told AFP Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
In 2014, a UN Security Council resolution approved a mechanism to use four border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid to rebel areas in northern and northwestern Syria where more than four millions of people.
But under pressure from Moscow, only that of Bab al-Hawa with Turkey has remained operational since 2020.
After the February 6 earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria, NGOs and opponents criticized the slowness of the arrival of UN aid in these areas, where the population was already living in difficult conditions before the drama.
A week later, Damascus had accepted that the UN use two other border crossings with Turkey, first to transport tents, blankets and anti-cholera kit. This authorization was to end on May 13.
According to the UN, Syria will need at least $15 billion to recover from the earthquake that killed nearly 6,000 people in the country.
Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since 2011, which has claimed half a million lives, displaced millions and fragmented the country.