The United Nations extended on Monday a resolution that allows the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing through Türkiye to deliver humanitarian aid into northwestern Syria, the only remaining available route into the besieged region.
The long-running aid operation has been in place since 2014.
The 15-member Security Council adopted the resolution unanimously, allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to some 4 million people until July 10. Syria's ally Russia – in a surprise move – supporting the resolution.
Around 15.3 million people will require humanitarian protection and assistance in 2023, the highest since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, according to the U.N.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a written statement welcomed the U.N. decision.
"The U.N. mechanism plays a vital role in the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance to 4.1 million people in need in this region," the statement read.
"The scale of the humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria and regional stability necessitate the longer-term maintenance of the U.N. mechanism. Türkiye, who has maintained its cooperation with the international community to this end, will continue to do so in the future," it added.
All eyes had been on Russia, which in the past has abstained or vetoed resolutions on cross-border aid deliveries. It has sought to replace humanitarian aid crossing the Turkish border to northwest Idlib province with convoys from government-held areas across conflict lines.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned that the already dire humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening and if the aid deliveries from Türkiye to northwestern Idlib are not renewed, millions of Syrians might not survive the winter.
Guterres said deliveries have increased across conflict lines within the country, but he said they cannot substitute for “the size or scope of the massive cross-border United Nations operation.” On Sunday, a convoy of 18 trucks entered the area of Idlib through front lines held by Syrian government forces.
The resolution put the Security Council on record as “determining that the devastating humanitarian situation in Syria continues to constitute a threat to peace and security in the region.”
In July, the council approved a resolution extending humanitarian aid deliveries to Idlib, which is home to 4.1 million people. Many of the people sheltering in the area have been internally displaced by the nearly 12-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s prewar population of 23 million.
In addition to pushing for more cross-front-line aid deliveries, Russia has also pushed for early recovery projects in Syria.
Guterres said in the December report that at least 374 early recovery projects have taken place throughout the country since January 2021, directly benefiting over 665,000 people, but he said “further expansion” is needed.
The resolution encourages efforts to improve cross-front-line aid deliveries and calls on all 193 U.N. member states to respond to Syria’s “complex humanitarian emergency” and meet the urgent needs of the Syrian people “in light of the profound socioeconomics and humanitarian impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It urges stepped-up initiatives to broaden activities to include providing water, sanitation, health, education, electricity, shelter and early recovery projects.
