UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (Portal) – Russia on Tuesday signaled the end of a long-running United Nations humanitarian operation in Turkey that was delivering aid to four million people in rebel-held northwestern Syria, after vetoing it at the United Nations had submitted a nine-month renewal of the Security Council.
Russia then failed in its own attempt to extend the operation, which has been delivering relief supplies such as food, medicine and shelter since 2014, by six months. The Security Council’s approval for the aid shipments expired on Monday.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia indicated that the Council’s mandate for the relief operation could not be saved.
After vetoing and before the Council voted on Russia’s six-month proposal, Nebenzia said, “If our draft isn’t supported, we can just go ahead and close the cross-border mechanism.”
“We will not accept the technical rollover for any period of time,” he added.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States would continue to work with all Council members to renew the relief effort and urged Russia to reconsider its position.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had pushed for a 12-month extension.
Guterres expressed disappointment that the Council had failed to reach an agreement and called on members to “redouble their efforts to support the continued delivery of cross-border assistance to millions of people in dire need in north-west Syria for as long as possible.” ‘ said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
A permit is required because the Syrian government in Damascus, which has close ties with Moscow, has not approved the UN operation for reasons of sovereignty. Votes in the Security Council on this issue have long been contentious – the mandate expired in both 2022 and 2020, only to be renewed a day later.
In 2014, the Security Council initially approved aid deliveries from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey to opposition-controlled areas of Syria. But Russia and China have reduced this to just one Turkish border point.
Aid organizations complained about the deadlock in the Security Council.
“Utter Cruelty”
Russia and Syria argued that the relief operation violated Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They say more aid should be delivered from the country, fueling opposition fears that food and other supplies could fall under government control.
After an earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowed the United Nations to use two additional border crossings from Turkey to send aid. This permit expires on August 13.
The Syrian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it would now include the Bab al Hawa crossing in its agreement with the United Nations and extend those permits beyond August 13.
“That’s for them (Syria) to decide,” Nebenzia told reporters. “It is up to you.”
Syria’s ambassador to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, told Portal that Damascus would assess the situation and announce its position.
Sabbagh told the council that the approval for the relief operation should only be extended by six months and criticized the text drafted by Switzerland and Brazil, saying it “does not reflect the hopes of the Syrians”.
China abstained from voting on the nine-month compromise extension to the Swiss-Brazil-drafted aid operation permit, while the remaining 13 members of the Security Council voted in favour.
Only Russia and China voted in favor of the Russian proposal for a six-month extension. Ten members of the Security Council abstained, while the United States, Britain and France voted against.
A Security Council resolution requires a minimum of nine votes in favor and no veto by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain for adoption.
“It is a sad moment for the Syrian people,” US Ambassador Thomas Greenfield told the council after Russia’s veto. “What we just saw, what the world just saw, was an act of utter cruelty.”
A violent crackdown by Assad on peaceful pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to a civil war in which Moscow supported Assad and Washington supported the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions more are internally displaced. Fighting has eased since Assad regained control of most of Syria.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Edited by Rami Ayyub and Mark Heinrich
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