Syria government says UN can deliver aid from Turkiye for six months

Workers unload a truck from a United Nations aid convoy after entering Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, carrying basic vital necessities for the inhabitants of the northwestern rebel-held areas on the country, on July 28, 2022, [Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP]

The Syrian government has given the United Nations approval to use a border crossing from Turkiye to continue delivering aid to opposition-held north-west Syria for another six months after the Security Council failed to renew its authorisation for the operation, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the UN aid deliveries would have to be “in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian Government”, Syria’s UN Ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh, wrote in a letter on Thursday to the Security Council.

The UN-brokered agreement that allows for the delivery of aid overland from Turkiye into rebel-held areas of Syria expired on Monday.

February’s massive earthquakes that hit southern Turkiye and northern Syria exposed the fragility of the cross-border mechanism and increased scrutiny of the UN’s humanitarian mission in Syria.

READ: Syria still endures poverty despite relative calm and renewed Arab ties

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