UN: Millions of People to Suffer If Syria's Cross-border Aid Fails to Extend

New York, MINA – The United Nations warned Wednesday that millions of people in Syria will suffer if the Security Council fails to extend the resolution allowing humanitarian aid to be sent to the northwestern part of the country controlled by the rebels.

The long-term relief operation that allows the use of the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Turkiye has been carried out since 2014 and the six-month authorization will end on January 10, Anadolu Agency reported.

“What will happen is that millions of people will suffer. That’s what’s going to happen,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Aid shipments from across the Turkish border to Syria, reaching an average of 2.7 million people each month, include early recovery and livelihood support to strengthen communities, according to the United Nations

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Some 15.3 million people will need protection and humanitarian assistance in 2023, the highest since the start of the conflict in 2011, the United Nations says.

“If the Security Council fails to extend resolution 2642, the consequences will be disastrous for the 4.1 million people in areas not controlled by the government,” Head of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, International Organization for Migration, UN Children’s Fund, World Food Program, World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund and the UN refugee agency said in a statement.

“At the height of winter and in the midst of a serious cholera outbreak, women and children make up the majority of people who need help just to survive,” he said.

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The UN reported 62,000 suspected cases of cholera, including 100 deaths from the disease last December.

For years, Assad has been trying to get rid of an aid mechanism with the help of Russia, which would have prevented access to rebel-held northwestern Syria.

Aid shipments were reduced to one border crossing from four in the years when Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution seeking to maintain a cross-border aid line to northwestern Syria. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)