Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to allow UN aid deliveries to opposition-held northwest Syria through two border crossings from Turkey for three months, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday. | Reuters
“As the toll of the Feb. 6 earthquake continues to mount, delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency,” said Guterres.
“Opening these crossing points – along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs – will allow more aid to go in, faster,” he added. The Syrian government has opposed the aid deliveries across its border, describing it as a violation of its sovereignty. It says more aid should be delivered across the frontlines of the 12-year-old civil war.
It was not immediately clear if some western council members might still push for the adoption of a resolution to enshrine Assad’s three-month agreement to open two border crossings. A resolution would need nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.
Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said a resolution was not needed “because it’s a sovereign decision of Syria.” He said the current Security Council mandated UN aid access through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was a violation of Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.Syria’s UN Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh confirmed Syria would support the delivery of humanitarian aid through all possible points from inside Syria or across the border for three months.
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