The extension of United Nations Security Council’s cross-border aid deliveries from Türkiye to Syria is critically important for millions of Syrians in need, Türkiye’s envoy to the U.N. said Thursday as he called for the mechanism's extension.

The humanitarian situation in Syria has deteriorated, Sedat Önal told a Security Council meeting on Syria, especially pointing to the impacts of the Feb. 6 earthquakes centered in southern Türkiye that continue reverberating across the region.

"The U.N. and its humanitarian partners need predictability with a longer-term perspective to sustain their crucial operations," he said, welcoming the aid efforts by the U.N. and its partners.

"Under the current conditions, especially in northwest Syria, which suffered the most damage from the earthquakes, the U.N. cross-border mechanism remains the only viable lifeline for millions of Syrians in need. Thus, the Security Council's extension of the mandate of the cross-border mechanism for 12 months will be critically important," he stressed.

Önal called on the members of the Council to remain guided solely by humanitarian considerations and to act accordingly, noting that expanding the field of activity by including new border gates in the mechanism will also contribute to predictability, which he said is needed to make better use of these crossings.

Fighting terrorism

Önal further reiterated Türkiye’s commitment to eliminating the threat that is the PKK/YPG terrorist group and said Ankara remained "resolute to protect citizens and borders, as well as the territorial integrity of Syria."

"PKK/YPG terrorism not only threatens the stability and territorial integrity of neighboring Syria but also Türkiye’s existential and national security interests," Önal said. "Türkiye is determined to do whatever is necessary to eliminate this threat and to safeguard its citizens and borders in full compliance with international law and international humanitarian law."

He informed that in 2023, the terrorist group perpetrated 67 attacks from Tel Rifat and Manbij on targets inside Türkiye, as well as the opposition-controlled areas in Syria.

YPG is the PKK’s Syrian affiliate heavily backed by the U.S.

In his remarks, Önal highlighted the importance of combating separatist agendas and all forms and manifestations of terrorism, recalling the Astana talks in Syria last week that underlined the need to preserve Syria's territorial integrity and national unity.

He pointed out that the Constitutional Committee should meet again as soon as possible in order to overcome the current political stalemate in Syria.

UN wants 12-month extension

U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths too echoed Önal in his remarks as he pushed the Security Council to extend by 12 months its approval of a long-running humanitarian aid operation that delivers help to millions of people in northwest Syria from Türkiye.

Authorization by the 15-member council is needed because Syrian authorities did not agree to the U.N. operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter to opposition-controlled areas of Syria since 2014.

"A 12-month authorization enables us and our partners to deliver better humanitarian outcomes in the months ahead. It is as simple as that," Griffiths said.

The current six-month authorization is due to expire on July 10. Bashar Assad's ally Russia has long questioned the need for the operation, arguing that more humanitarian assistance should be delivered to the area from within Syria.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again argued on Thursday that the U.N. aid operation violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

"They're trying to convince us that the cross-border mechanism should be extended for 12 months in order to better plan operations," Nebenzia said. "Let us ask the question, what means will the U.N. be using to plan these operations?"

Griffiths told the council that the $5.4 billion U.N. aid appeal for Syria for 2023 is the largest in the world, but it was less than 12% funded.

"It has never been quite so ill-funded in the history of this conflict," he said, appealing for countries to pay up on pledges of $5 billion made this month to support people in Syria and neighboring states hosting Syrian refugees in 2023.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said London had pledged $190 million and called on Moscow to announce its contribution "following the recent announcement that Russia spends $2 billion a year on the Wagner Group" – the mercenary force behind an abortive armed mutiny in Russia last weekend.

The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Türkiye. But Russia and China have whittled that down to just one Turkish border point.

A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington and Ankara supporting the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions are internally displaced.

The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday voted to create – under U.N. auspices – an Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria "to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons ... and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing."

The measure was adopted with 83 votes in favor, 11 against and 62 abstentions.