Status: 07/09/2021 8:10 p.m.
If the Bab al-Hawa border crossing were closed, this would have massive effects on the UN’s aid deliveries to Syria. At the last minute the Security Council reached a compromise to prevent this from happening.
Millions of needy Syrians can count on humanitarian aid from the United Nations for another year. The UN Security Council unanimously agreed on a compromise for the continuation of the important aid mechanism in the civil war country. It is about the Turkish-Syrian border crossing at Bab al-Hawa, through which relief supplies can be brought directly to northern Syria. It should now remain open for UN aid deliveries.
The background to this is a UN resolution that has existed since 2014, which would have expired on Saturday as planned. The regulation allows the United Nations to bring important relief supplies via border crossings to parts of the civil war country that are not controlled by the government.
UN Security Council extends aid mandate for Syria
Daniel Hechler, ARD Cairo, daily news 8 p.m., July 9, 2021
Russia, which supports the Syrian leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, had signaled in recent months that it would also close the last of what were once four border crossings – Bab al-Hawa in the northwest. Instead, the relief supplies should first be brought to the capital Damascus, which is controlled by the Syrian leadership, and then delivered to rebel areas.
A “turning point” in relationships
But Russia finally gave in. A compromise found with the USA provides for the border crossing to be kept open for six months. This regulation will automatically be extended for a further six months, subject to a report by UN Secretary General António Guterres on the transparency of aid deliveries and the progress made in deliveries across the front lines in Syria.
Both the USA and Russia praised the compromise found with unusually friendly words. Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebsya said it could be a “turning point” for relations between the two countries.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “I definitely see that it is an important moment in our relationship. And it shows what we can achieve with the Russians if we work diplomatically with them on common goals”. She looks forward to continuing to work with Moscow on topics of mutual interest.
Many Syrians live in refugee camps like this one near the city of Atma in the Idlib province (archive image)
Image: AP
Welthungerhilfe: “A great relief”
The UN and aid agencies had warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if the existing regulation were not continued. More than two million people in the rebel areas in the north and northwest of Syria are dependent on aid from Turkey. According to the UN and many experts, if aid were only brought into the country via Damascus, Assad would have control over who he gives aid to and who not.
Aid organizations take a deep breath. The decision of the Security Council is a “great relief,” said the Syria coordinator of Welthungerhilfe, Konstantin Witschel. But at the same time he warned that it should not be forgotten that the status quo was merely being maintained here. “Even with resolution, the humanitarian situation in northwest Syria is catastrophic.”
In total, around four million Syrians live in the region, most of them displaced who live in camps, half-finished houses and similar poor accommodation. Bab al-Hawa, which is used by around 1,000 trucks every month on behalf of the UN, is considered the “lifeline” here.