Europe 1 with AFP 22:23 p.m., July 11, 2023

After a Russian veto, the UN Security Council on Tuesday failed to extend the mechanism for cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, at least temporarily closing a vital crossing route for millions of residents of rebel-held areas of the country.

The 15 members of the UN Security Council had been trying for days to find a compromise to extend the humanitarian aid mechanism that allows food, water or medicine to reach people in northwestern Syria from Turkey through the Bal al-Hawa border crossing and without permission from Damascus. Because of the even greater needs since the February earthquakes, the UN, humanitarians and a majority of Council members called for an extension of at least one year to allow for better aid planning.

Faced with opposition from Russia, which insisted on only six months, Switzerland and Brazil, in charge of this file, finally proposed a nine-month compromise. A compromise vetoed by Russia, a key ally of Damascus, on Tuesday, preventing its adoption despite 13 votes in favor, and one abstention (China). The Council also rejected by 2 votes in favour, 3 against and 10 abstentions, a competing Russian text that provided for a six-month extension, but which also questioned Western sanctions imposed on Syria.

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UN Secretary-General says he is "disappointed"

"This is a sad moment for this Council, except for one country," US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the Russian veto, denouncing an "act of absolute cruelty". "This calendar would have made it possible to get through the harsh winter months," said Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl. "We will not let this veto put an end to our efforts to find a solution," she stressed, assuring that she would "get back to work immediately".

"Disappointed" by this failure, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Council members "to redouble their efforts" to allow cross-border aid to continue. But Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia spoke of its pure and simple end. "If our draft text is not supported, we can simply close the mechanism," he said, accusing aid through this mechanism of benefiting "terrorists in Idlib", a rebel region in northwestern Syria, and not the Syrian people.

A "cynical veto" according to Human Rights Watch

The text of Switzerland and Brazil "did not reflect the aspirations of the Syrian people", added Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, deploring that the UN humanitarian plan for his entire country, estimated at 5.4 billion dollars for 2023, is only 12% funded. The mechanism created in 2014 allows the UN to deliver humanitarian aid to populations in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria, without authorization from the Syrian government, which regularly denounces a violation of its sovereignty.

Initially, it planned four crossing points, but after years of pressure in particular from Moscow, an ally of the Syrian regime, only the Bab al-Hawa post remained operational, and its authorization was reduced to six months renewable. "Humanitarian aid should be based on needs, not politics," Floriane Borel of Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, denouncing Russia's "cynical veto."

Alternatives to find

The UN "should immediately explore alternative ways to ensure that Syrians receive enough food, medicine and other aid they desperately need without having to beg Russia or the Syrian president for access," she added. Despite the expiration of the UN mechanism, two other crossing points are operational, authorized directly by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after the February earthquakes.

This authorization expires in mid-August. "I am very hopeful that they will continue to be renewed," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said last week. But these two crossing points "will not be able to compensate" Bab al-Hawa, insisted Tuesday Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general. "85% of our needs went through the door that was closed today."

As with every renewal of the mandate, in the event of this closure, the UN has prepositioned aid in Syria, he noted, without specifying how long it could last. According to the UN, four million people in northwestern Syria, most of them women and children, need humanitarian assistance to survive after years of conflict, economic shocks, epidemics and growing poverty compounded by devastating earthquakes. And the mechanism that expired on Monday helped 2.7 million people each month.