The UN must decide by July 10 whether to renew the Bab al-Hawa crossing point from Turkey, which gives the body and its partners access to about 3.4 million people in northwest Syria, including areas outside government control. Around 13.4 million people are dependent on aid relief in Syria after over a decade of conflict. Each month, more than 1,000 trucks have been transporting food, medicine and other items through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, an international border on the Syria-Turkey border. “I strongly appeal to the members of the Council to reach consensus on allowing cross border operations as a vital channel of support for another year,” UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said. “A failure to extend the Council’s authorisation would have devastating consequences,” he warned. Russia has so far rejected warnings that the closing of the border crossing will leave more than one million people without food and medicine. Claiming it is integral to strengthening Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia insisted that aid can and should be delivered across conflict lines in Syria.
Source:https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/un-appeals-extension-cross-border-aid-syria