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WASHINGTON — The Syrian government says it will grant the United Nations "permission" to use a border crossing with Turkey to deliver humanitarian assistance for the next six months, according to a letter obtained by Al-Monitor.
Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbagh said Thursday the Syrian government has “taken the sovereign decision to grant the United Nations and its specialized agencies permission to use Bab al-Hawa crossing … in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government."
According to the letter, which was sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward and circulated to council members, the access will last for six months beginning Thursday.
The Syrian announcement comes two days after the Security Council failed to reauthorize its cross-border aid mechanism, which for nearly a decade has allowed the UN and its partners to deliver food, medicine and other lifesaving assistance to areas outside the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
On Tuesday, Moscow vetoed a Swiss- and Brazilian-drafted resolution to extend the UN mechanism by nine months, a compromise from the yearlong extension sought by the United Nations, United States and aid agencies.
The United States, along with France and the United Kingdom, then voted against a rival Russian resolution that would have extended the UN aid operation by only six months.
Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said the Russians had hinted they would show some flexibility on this year's cross-border negotiations, but that might have been a ruse.
"The general feeling was that this renewal would be bumpy but all right in the end," Gowan said. “This is not the endgame Western countries wanted."
Letter from the Syrians obtained by Al-Monitor here 👇 pic.twitter.com/yIONBFMUBi
— Elizabeth Hagedorn (@ElizHagedorn) July 13, 2023
The debate playing out at the Security Council centers on an arrangement that since 2014 has allowed UN agencies and their partners to deliver much-needed aid without requiring the consent of Damascus, which has a track record of weaponizing aid destined for areas under control of the opposition.
Along with China, Assad’s ally Russia has used its veto power since 2020 to eliminate three of the original four border crossings from neighboring Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. The Russians argue the cross-border operation is a violation of Syrian sovereignty and say humanitarian assistance should instead be delivered from inside the country in what’s known as “cross-line” delivery.
Emma Beals, a Syria analyst and nonresident fellow at the Middle East Institute, said a UN Security Council resolution is still needed to ensure continued humanitarian access.
“Given the regime's history of aid denial as a military strategy for the entirety of Syria's more than 12-year war, it is simply untenable to manage aid into the northwest through regime consent,” Beals said.
Any change in the current UN arrangement would “require agreements that include guarantees, monitoring and snapbacks if consent is withdrawn," she said.
Natasha Hall, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said for the UN to operate with the regime’s permission, as the Syrians have proposed, defeats the purpose of the original cross-border mechanism.
“If we knew the regime's consent was reliable, we wouldn't need the cross-border agreement,” Hall said.
At stake are the lives of some 4 million people in Syria’s last opposition stronghold of Idlib, a majority of whom the UN says depend on humanitarian aid to survive after 12 years of war. About 85% of that assistance arrives through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
Following the deadly earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria in early February, the Syrian government agreed under UN pressure to reopen two previously shuttered border crossings, Bab al-Salam and al-Ra’ee. That permission, however, is due to expire in August.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Tuesday that Russia’s veto of a nine-month extension was an “act of utter cruelty” and a “sad moment” for the council. She urged the Russians to return to the negotiating table in good faith.
“I don’t see a point in any new votes," Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy UN ambassador, told Al-Monitor on Thursday. "The mechanism is dead."
