According to the UN, Syria’s President has agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to help millions of earthquake victims.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée for an initial period of three months.
Currently, the U.N. has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa, at Syrian ally Russia’s insistence.
The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus earlier Monday, February 13, 2023 between Assad and U.N. humanitarian Chief, Martin Griffiths, who spent the weekend viewing the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that wreaked havoc on southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.
Guterres’ official announcement came during a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council where diplomats said Griffiths announced Assad’s agreement to open the two new crossings during a virtual briefing.
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh, told reporters while the meeting was taking place that Assad held a “positive and constructive meeting” with Griffiths and “confirmed the need for urgent aid to enter all regions in Syria, including those under occupation and under control of the armed terrorist groups.”
“Based on that, Syria supports the entry of humanitarian aid into the region through all possible cross points whatever, from inside Syria, or across the borders, for the period of three months to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to our people in northwestern Syria.”
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh
Brazil and Switzerland, which oversee Syria cross-border issues in the council, asked for “quick implementation” of the agreement to open the two new crossings.
“We certainly hope Assad is serious about this,” U.S. State Department Spokesman, Ned Price said.
It would be “a good thing for the Syrian people,” Price added, noting the Syrian regime’s previous opposition to additional humanitarian crossings.
UN Under Intense Pressure
The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syria’s rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for other survivors and the death toll mounting.
U.N. Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric stressed that the United Nations does not have heavy equipment or search and rescue teams, “so the international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where it is needed.”
Antonio Guterres, the U.N Secretary-General disclosed in a statement that with the rising death toll, “delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency.”
“Opening these crossing points along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs will allow more aid to go in, faster.”
Antonio Guterres, U.N Secretary-General
In 2014, the Security Council authorized four border crossings to deliver aid to northwest Syria; two from Turkey, one from Jordan and one from Iraq.
In January 2020, Syria’s close ally Russia used its veto threat to reduce the number of crossing to the two from Turkey. The following July, China and Russia used their veto power to reduce the number to just a single crossing.
France’s U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere told reporters after the meeting that U.N. humanitarian officials said they were ready to send convoys through the three crossings.
If the two new crossings work, it will be fine, he said, but “if it doesn’t work, I think the Security Council should get back to work” and look into a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter that would be enforceable militarily to ensure aid gets through to the northwest.
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