The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has postponed her visit to Turkey's southern border with Syria, the U.S. Mission to the U.N. said on Saturday.
Thomas-Greenfield was scheduled to visit Hatay's Reyhanlı district from Sunday to Monday to survey the Cilvegözü border crossing, which is opposite the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on the Syrian side.
"Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will continue to travel as planned to Brussels May 9-10 to lead the United States delegation to the Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, Brussels VI Conference, chaired by the European Union," her office at the U.N. said in a statement.
"There, the ambassador will underscore the United States’ commitment and our determination to work in partnership with the international community to help support the Syrian people," the statement added.
On the sidelines of the conference, Thomas-Greenfield is expected to host a ministerial meeting to discuss the future of international support for the Syrian political process.
"She will also meet with NATO and EU officials in Brussels to discuss Ukraine and other shared Transatlantic priorities," the statement added.
Last week, it was announced that Thomas-Greenfield would visit Turkey's southern border with Syria on the weekend, through which much-needed humanitarian aid is carried to millions of Syrians in the war-torn country.
"I am visiting to update myself on the situation at the border so that I am in a better position to defend keeping this border open and pushing for reopening some of the borders," Thomas-Greenfield had told Anadolu Agency (AA) in an interview.
Cilvegözü is the only border crossing through which international humanitarian aid is sent to Syria, and the Bab al-Hawa crossing carries the risk of being closed if Russia objects to a future renewal of the cross-border mandate.
Thomas-Greenfield said keeping the border crossing open is in Russia's interests as well.
"It's not just in our interests. It is in serious interests that this border remains open," she said.
The diplomat noted that the U.S. listened to Russia last year and supported the delivery of humanitarian assistance within Syria, adding the aid within Syria cannot meet all of the needs of Syrians, who she said depend on humanitarian aid from the international community.
"So it is my hope that with the Russians we come up with an agreement as we did last year with the current Security Council to extend this border so that we can continue to provide needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria," said Thomas-Greenfield.
She warned that if the border closes, thousands of Syrians in need will starve.
"I don't think anyone wants to see that happen. So I am focused on success. I'm focused on the goal of keeping this border open. I don't think there's any justification for closing the border," she added.
The U.S. envoy recalled her visit to the Turkish border in June last year, saying she had seen "the kind of monitoring at that border that I've never seen anywhere else in the world."
"Every single box is checked. Every single vehicle is checked. There are hundreds of amazing humanitarian people, U.N. people who are working at that border to ensure that what is crossing into that border is humanitarian assistance that will feed, nourish and provide needed medical support to the Syrian people," she said.
"If the border closes. We don't know what will cross that border. The pressure will be on the Turkish government to support those efforts. And I think that it is crucial that we have the U.N. continuing to manage what is happening there," she added.