The United Nations urges the Security Council to extend Turkey’s border crossing into northwest Syria for a year

[ad_1]

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general hopes the Security Council will vote later this month to keep open a key border crossing from Turkey into rebel-held northwest Syria for critical aid deliveries for one year instead of six. months, a UN official said on Tuesday.

The Idlib governorate in northwestern Syria is home to about 4 million people, many of whom were displaced earlier during the 12-year civil war that claimed nearly half a million lives. Hundreds of thousands of people live in tented settlements and depend on aid that comes through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

The Security Council is expected to vote in the coming days, as the current six-month term ends on July 10.

The global chemical weapons watchdog said it found no evidence to support Syria’s claim that its forces were attacked with poison gas in 2017.

The Jordanian foreign minister called for investing in the Syrian infrastructure destroyed by the conflict to accelerate the return of refugees.

The main players in the events arising from the armed rebellion in Russia last weekend are the mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Gen.

The families of some of the tens of thousands of people missing in Syria are getting some hope from a new UN campaign to find their loved ones. Still others are skeptical.

The situation worsened after the February 6 earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving many people homeless and in need of assistance.

In the past, Russia, the main backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has refrained from or vetoed decisions on cross-border aid deliveries. It sought to replace aid crossing the Turkish border into Idlib province with convoys from government-held areas of Syria. Since the early years of the war in Syria, Turkey has stood by and supported the opposition.

The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan through four crossing points to opposition-held areas of Syria. But over the years, Russia, backed by its ally China, has reduced authorized crossings to just one from Turkey — and the time frame from a year to six months.

“The UN Secretary-General has been very clear that he would like the Security Council to renew the cross-border resolution that expires on July 10 for 12 months,” said David Cardin, the UN’s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis. He spoke to reporters during a visit to Idlib.

He said the 12-month renewal was necessary so that the UN could implement early recovery projects such as permanent shelters. “What we want is to move people from tents to a permanent shelter,” he said, adding that such shelters are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, in addition to the privacy they give families.

The February earthquake left more than 4,500 people dead in northwest Syria, and their homes damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations.

After the earthquake, two additional border crossings between Turkey and Syria were opened initially for three months. It was extended for another three months in May to help aid flows.

[ad_2]