West demanded a one-year deadline
UN Security Council extends aid to Syria by six months
07/11/2022 11:41 p.m
Not as long as hoped, but at least longer: The UN Security Council agrees on further aid deliveries for the civil war country Syria. Western countries want to extend the period to twelve months, but are not successful. After half a year it’s over for the time being.
The 15 members of the UN Security Council have agreed to extend the mandate for international aid deliveries to Syria via the Turkish-Syrian border by a further six months. This corresponds to the duration proposed by Russia, said diplomats in New York. The western states, on the other hand, had requested an extension of one year, since six months were too short to be able to guarantee serious aid for the population.
It was now expected that the UN Security Council would agree to the six-month extension and that another vote on a six-month extension would be agreed for January.
The aid deliveries will be handled via the Turkish-Syrian border post at Bab al-Hawa. This is the only route through which UN aid can be delivered to the Syrian people without having to pass through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
Moscow sees these deliveries as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. Russia intervened militarily in the Syrian war in 2015. As a result, the tide turned in favor of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, whose troops were able to retake a number of areas.