Syria has announced Thursday it would allow the United Nations the temporary use of Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey for six months to reach millions of Syrians living in areas outside the government's control in the country’s northwest. The United Nations says it is studying the Syrian offer and, as of Friday, had not moved any aid through the crossing.
"The government of the Syrian Arab Republic has taken the decision to grant the United Nations and its specialized agencies permission to use Bab al-Hawa crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in need in northwest Syria, in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government for a period of six months, starting from July 13, 2023," Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh told reporters at the United Nations.
Use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey into northwest Syria has been contentious. The government of Bashar al-Assad wants all aid to go through Damascus and across conflict front lines from within Syria. Its ally, Russia, used its Security Council veto on Tuesday to prevent a nine-month extension of an existing council authorization for the UN to move convoys of humanitarian supplies through Bab al-Hawa.
Since 2021, Russia has forced the Council to shrink the cross-border operation and has threatened to let the 9-year-old operation shut down permanently.
"The cross-border mechanism is an obvious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, which because of circumstances was possible five to seven years ago, but looks completely anachronistic today," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Council on Tuesday.
More than 4 million Syrians live in areas outside the government's control, and the UN says it reaches 2.7 million of them monthly with life-saving aid via Bab al-Hawa. Needs have only grown over 12 years of civil war as an economic crisis set in, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and the north of the country was hit with a series of deadly earthquakes in February.
UN humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations have called for aid access to northwest Syria to continue and be expanded. Over 85 percent of trucks reach northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa crossing. UN aid trucks stopped rolling through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northwest Syria at midnight on Monday, when the Security Council's authorization to use Bab al-Hawa expired.
Russia had offered a six-month continuation of Bab al-Hawa in its own proposed resolution, but council members rejected it because it did not meet humanitarians' needs. The six-month extension also means the Syrian government could withdraw its permission in mid-January — in the dead of winter.
Following February's earthquakes, the Syrian government authorized the use of two other crossing points from Turkey, the Bab Al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee crossings. Those are open until August 13. The Assad government has not said publicly whether it plans to extend their use. Syria's ambassador was noncommittal when asked if Damascus will renew them.
Not everyone was pleased with Syria’s move. Some aid groups and Western diplomats said this would mean that control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing - and the aid that goes through it - would now shift from a neutral party – the United Nations – to the Syrian government, which is responsible for much of the suffering in northwest Syria.
On Friday, the United Nations confirmed receiving the letter from the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic granting the UN permission to use the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to deliver assistance from across the border with Turkey to northwest Syria.
“The UN is continuing to look at it and we are consulting with a number of partners on this. The UN is committed to delivering life-saving assistance to millions of people in need in north-west Syria, guided by humanitarian principles and using all available means and delivery modalities”, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said.
The Syrian conflict is one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises worldwide. The crisis continues to cause tremendous human suffering to people both inside and outside the country. Overall, 15.3 million people – or 70 percent of the population – need some form of humanitarian assistance in Syria.
Twelve years of conflict in Syria have led to one of the two largest displacement crises in the world, with more than 12.6 million people fleeing their homes. While 6.9 million women, men and children are internally displaced in their own country, the ongoing civil war has resulted in more than 5.7 million Syrian refugees, located mostly in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
The February earthquakes further exacerbated the humanitarian situation in Syria, affecting around 8.8 million people. In northwest Syria, at least 4.1 million people rely on humanitarian aid to meet their most basic needs.
The revised Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Syria requires US$5.4 billion, but it is only 12 percent funded. The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), covering refugees and host communities throughout the region, appeals for $5.77 billion and is just 3.5 percent funded.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.