NEW YORK: The Syrian government has allowed the UN to use a border crossing from Turkey to continue delivering aid and relief goods to northwest Syria for another six months following the UNSC failed to renew its authorization for the operation.
Syrian Government-UN
The United Nations aid deliveries would have to be “in complete coordination and cooperation with the Government of Syria,” Syria’s UN envoy Bassam Sabbagh wrote in a letter on Thursday to the UNSC.
UNSC approval for the Turkish-based relief operation delivering assistance to several million people in rebel-controlled northwest Syria ended on Monday as members struggled to convince Moscow to extend it for more than six months.
After the quake killed over 50,000 people in Syria and Turkey in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad permitted the UN to use an additional two border crossings from Turkey to deliver aid and relief.
A vicious crackdown by Assad’s government on peaceful protesters in 2011 led to a civil war, with Washington supporting the opposition and Moscow backing Assad. Reuters reported that millions of people have fled the country while millions were internally displaced due to civil war.
