The U.N. Security Council’s approval of an agreement for the delivery of lifesaving aid to over 4 million people in opposition-held Syria from Türkiye expired on Monday after the council failed to hold a vote to reauthorize it.
In 2022 and 2020, the mandate for the operation ran out but was renewed a day later. Authorization is needed because Syrian authorities did not agree to the operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter since 2014.
The vote, first scheduled for Friday, was postponed to Monday – and then again to Tuesday morning, a source in the British mission to the U.N., which holds the presidency of the Security Council, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
This means that as humanitarian convoys wrapped up their operations Monday night, the future of the aid corridor was in doubt – it cannot resume operations until the United Nations reauthorizes it.
The 15-member Security Council had been negotiating a text, drafted by Switzerland and Brazil, to allow the massive U.N. operation to continue using the Bab al-Hawa crossing for 12 months. But Russia put forward a rival text proposing six months on Friday.
Some diplomats said they hope the council can reach an agreement on a text and vote on Tuesday. To be adopted, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain. Negotiations are ongoing to avoid a veto by Russia, a diplomat told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday.
"We want to do all we can for the 4.1 million people in Syria who desperately need aid," British Ambassador and Security Council President Barbara Woodward said earlier in the day.
"We are still working very, very hard to find common ground with one and one goal only in mind: it's the humanitarian imperative, the needs on the ground," Swiss ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said.
Switzerland and Brazil are now said to have put a nine-month renewal on the table.
The accord comes up for renewal every six months due to pressure from Damascus ally Moscow, which argues that the U.N. aid operation violates Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. It says more aid should be delivered from inside the country, raising opposition fears that food and other aid would fall under government control.
The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Türkiye. But Russia and China have whittled that down to just one Turkish border point.
A crackdown by Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington and Ankara supporting the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions are internally displaced.
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council last month: "A 12-month authorization enables us and our partners to deliver better humanitarian outcomes in the months ahead. It is as simple as that."
Griffiths said the $5.4 billion U.N. aid appeal for Syria for 2023 is the largest in the world, but less than 12% funded.
The situation "is intolerable for the people of the northwest, and those brave souls who help them to go through these ups and downs every six months," he said, pointing out that humanitarian agencies have to bring pre-positioned stock into the country every time access is threatened, in case the crossing is closed.
The crossing provides for more than 80% of the needs of people living in opposition-controlled areas across the north – everything from diapers and blankets to chickpeas.
According to the U.N., 4 million people in Syria depend on humanitarian assistance to survive following years of conflict, economic strife and devastating earthquakes.
After the earthquake in February, which killed tens of thousands of people in both northeastern Syria and southern Türkiye, Assad agreed to the opening of two additional crossings, which remain open despite the Security Council's failure to reauthorize the Bab al-Hawa crossing Monday.
The authorization for the other two corridors is set to expire in mid-August.
"I have every hope that they will continue to be renewed. I see no reason why not," Griffiths said last week, after having met Assad in Damascus at the end of June.
Since the earthquake, more than 3,700 U.N. trucks carrying aid have passed through the three checkpoints. The majority have passed through Bab al-Hawa, including 79 Monday.
