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Conflict in Syria

UN Security Council once again rejects Russia’s resolution on trans-border aid to Syria

The draft resolution received seven ‘no’ votes and four ‘yes’ votes, with four abstentions

© Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

UNITED NATIONS, July 11. /TASS/. The UN Security Council once again voted to reject the Russian draft resolution on international aid deliveries to Syria via one checkpoint on the border with Turkey, said Christoph Heusgen, Germany’s envoy to the UN who chairs the Council in July.

The draft resolution received seven ‘no’ votes and four ‘yes’ votes, with four abstentions.

A UN source told TASS that the document was supported by Russia, China, Vietnam and South Africa. The United Kingdom, the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, the Dominican Republic and Estonia voted against, while Indonesia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tunisia abstained.

Earlier, Russia’s first deputy UN envoy, Dmitry Polyansky, said the updated Russian resolution "will allow cross-border humanitarian deliveries to Idlib in Syria through crossing point Bab-el-Hawa for one year." "This border-crossing accounts for more than 85% of total volume of operations," the Russian diplomat added.

Moscow has explained the need to gradually curtail the mechanism of trans-border deliveries to Syria by the changing situation on the ground. As the Syrian government regains control over more and more regions, international aid to those areas can be delivered in coordination with Damascus and in accordance with the international humanitarian law.

On Friday, Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution co-authored by Germany and Belgium, which stipulates extending the delivery of aid bypassing Damascus and suggests two border crossings for the purpose, with the possibility of opening the third one.

The decision to launch cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria was passed in July 2014 as a response measure to the dramatic decrease in access to the population because of heated hostilities. Thus, Resolution 2165 stipulates the establishment of several checkpoints at Syria’s borders and the deployment of a United Nations monitoring mission to inspect incoming cargoes to prevent weapons supplies.

In January 2020, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution extending the cross-border aid mechanism for six months but reducing the number of checkpoints from four to two.

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