Syria says UN can deliver aid through shuttered Turkey crossing for 6 months
- Syria makes ‘sovereign decision’ to let humanitarian aid move though overland crossing from Turkey into northwest Syria
- In recent days, millions in need have been cut off from supplies after the UN Security Council failed to renew authorisation of aid
The UN aid deliveries would have to be “in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian Government”, Syria’s UN ambassador Bassam Sabbagh wrote in a letter on Thursday to the Security Council, seen by Reuters.
UN Security Council approval for the Turkish-based aid operation delivering help to several million people in rebel-held northwest Syria expired on Monday as members struggled to convince Russia to extend it for more than six months.
Russia vetoed a nine-month authorisation renewal at the UN Security Council on Tuesday and then failed in its own bid for a six-month extension of the operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter since 2014.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had pushed for a 12-month renewal. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Syrian letter had been received and the United Nations was studying it.
“Under the UN mandate, Bab al-Hawa had gold standard aid monitoring, to ensure aid was not misused,” British UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said in a statement.