(United Nations) Syria announced on Thursday that it would authorize the UN to use for six months the passage of humanitarian aid through the Bab al-Hawa border post, the main gateway to the northwest of the country, which has since been closed. the expiration of the UN mandate on Monday.
Damascus “has taken the sovereign decision to allow the United Nations and its specialized agencies to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing point to bring humanitarian aid to civilians in need in northwestern Syria, in the midst of cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government for a period of six months from July 13,” Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbagh told reporters.
“We have just received the letter and we are studying it,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, told AFP when asked about the Syrian announcement sent by mail to Antonio Guterres.
A mechanism created in 2014 allowed the UN to deliver humanitarian aid to populations in rebel areas of northwestern Syria, without authorization from the Syrian government, which regularly denounced a violation of its sovereignty.
But this mechanism expired on Monday, after the Council’s failure to extend it. Russia on Tuesday vetoed a nine-month extension, while its own proposal for a six-month extension, which included political elements including Western sanctions against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was largely rejected.
According to the UN, four million people in northwestern Syria, mostly women and children, need humanitarian assistance to survive after years of conflict, economic shocks, epidemics and growing poverty aggravated by devastating earthquakes. The mechanism which expired on Monday was helping 2.7 million people every month.
Despite the expiry of the UN mechanism, two other crossing points were still operational, authorized directly by President Assad after the February earthquakes.
But the Bab al-Hawa border post between Turkey and Syria sees 85% of UN humanitarian aid transit to rebel areas.