Millions will suffer unless Syria cross-border aid mechanism is renewed, warns UN

UNITED NATIONS (AA) – The United Nations has warned that millions in Syria will suffer if the Security Council fails to extend a resolution that allows humanitarian aid to be delivered to the rebel-held northwestern part of the country.

The long-running aid operation that allows the use of the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Türkiye has been in place since 2014 and the most recent six-month authorization expires Jan. 10.

”What happens is that millions of people will suffer. That’s what will happen,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said when asked by Anadolu Agency. ”We have been very clear on the need to extend the mechanism.”

Aid delivery from across the Turkish border into Syria reached an average of 2.7 million people every month, according to the UN.

Around 15.3 million people will require humanitarian protection and assistance in 2023, the highest since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, said the UN.

If the Security Council fails to extend resolution 2642, ”the consequences will be catastrophic for 4.1 million people in non-Government controlled areas,” the heads of the UN humanitarian affairs office, International Organization for Migration, UN Children’s Fund, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund and the UN refugee agency said in a statement.

For years, the Assad regime has sought to get rid of the aid mechanism with the help of Russia, which would prevent access to the northwest of Syria that is controlled by the rebels.