The Cilvegözü (Bab al-Hawa) border crossing must remain open for continued support and humanitarian aid for vulnerable Syrians in the war-torn country, the minister for the European Neighbourhood, Wendy Morton, said during her visit to the area on Tuesday.
"The Bab al-Hawa border crossing must remain open so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can reach the most vulnerable Syrians," she stated.
Morton’s visit comes ahead of a crucial vote on July 10, when United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members will decide whether to keep this crossing open.
"The U.K., as a force for good in the region, will be voting in favor of maximum humanitarian access at the UNSC so that charities operating in northwest Syria can continue their life-saving work. More than 13 million Syrians remain in dire need of support across the war-torn country," the minister pointed out.
Morton elaborated that the U.K. provided clean drinking water to over 225,000 people, health consultations to more than 400,000 Syrians and formal education to over 200,000 children in northwest Syria via Bab al-Hawa between 2020 and 2021.
U.K. supports Turkey’s cease-fire efforts
The U.K. reaffirmed support for "Turkey’s efforts to maintain the cease-fire and to protect defenseless civilians fleeing the Syrian regime’s barbaric and wholly unjustified assaults," according to a statement.
"Turkey is a close friend of the U.K. and a NATO ally on the front line of some of the most serious challenges the world faces."
The U.K. reiterated that the border from Turkey is currently the only authorized route for U.N.-coordinated humanitarian aid to reach the more than 2 million people in northwest Syria who have been displaced from their homes.
"Russia and China have used their veto power to reduce the number of border crossings available, leaving only Bab al-Hawa, making it more difficult to respond to rising humanitarian needs in the region. These two countries continue to place political support for the Assad regime above life-saving support for the Syrian people," it added.
Damascus ally Moscow says the U.N. mandate on the border violates Syria's sovereignty and wants to close Bab al-Hawa when the current provision expires, rerouting aid through the regime-controlled territory.
The U.N. has warned that blocking aid via the crossing could cause a "humanitarian catastrophe."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week urged all Security Council nations to reach a consensus to preserve the crossing, which allows aid to reach some 3 million people living in the Idlib region.
Around 2.4 million people of the northwestern Idlib province’s 3 million population need humanitarian aid, according to the U.N.
It says some 1,000 trucks have passed through the crossing every month over the past year, carrying in vital COVID-19 vaccines, hospital equipment and medicine for diabetes, tuberculosis and leishmaniasis.
NGOs have warned that rerouting such supplies through regime-held territory could lead to disaster.
The notion that the Syrian regime can replace U.N. aid is absurd, Amnesty International's Syria researcher Diana Semaan said last week.
There is currently no agreement between the U.N. and Damascus to authorize U.N. aid deliveries to the northwest from inside Syria.
Aid groups have repeatedly accused Damascus of hindering humanitarian assistance to areas outside its control.
"The Syrian authorities have a long history of diverting and obstructing humanitarian aid," Amnesty International said in a statement.
Ireland and Norway, nonpermanent members of the Security Council, presented a draft resolution last Friday aiming to keep Bab al-Hawa open for one year.
The Security Council approved four border crossings when deliveries began in 2014, three years after the start of the Syrian conflict. But in January 2020, Russia used its veto threat in the council to limit aid deliveries to two border crossings, and in July 2020, its veto threat cut another. So today, aid can only be delivered through the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey to Syria’s opposition-held northwest.