UN: 3 border crossings now open for aid delivery in northwest Syria

The UN secretary general has said that there are now three border crossings which are open to deliver aid to northwest Syria following a series of earthquakes which hit on 6 February.

At a press conference in New York yesterday, Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephanie Dujarric announced that a convoy of trucks carrying aid passed through the Al-Rai border crossing and into northern Aleppo.

“This is the first UN convoy since the Government of Syria agreed to its use for aid deliveries, which now brings us to three fully operating border crossings for the United Nations.”

“Preparations are underway to send more trucks through all three border crossings,” Dujarric added.

The first twin earthquakes on 6 February killed over 46,000 people and injured thousands more. Last night, another 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit, killing six more people.

READ: Earthquake registering 6.3 hits Turkiye-Syria border region

On 14 February the UN announced that Al-Assad had agreed to open the Bab Al-Salam and Al-Rai border crossings for three months for the delivery of humanitarian aid in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Russia and China have in the past used their veto at the UNSC to stop aid flowing through border crossings across Syria.

Russia has said that the aid should only be delivered through Damascus otherwise it undermines Syria’s sovereignty.

Before the earthquakes, deliveries from Turkiye through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing was the only way aid could pass through into Idlib without travelling through government checkpoints.

As a result of the 12-year war in Syria, the humanitarian needs in the north of the countryhad already reached record levels before the deadly earthquakes hit.