United Nations: After days of wrangling with Russia over how long to allow the massive operation to continue, diplomats said on Monday that the U.N. Security Council appears set to permit U.N. deliveries of aid to roughly 4 million people in northwest Syria from Turkey until January.
The operation, which has provided food, medicine and shelter in Syria's territory controlled by the opposition since 2014, ended its term on Sunday. The Syrian authorities did not consent, so council approval is needed. A draft proposal proposed by Ireland and Norway that is an exact replica of the Russian text that was rejected in a vote on Friday will be put to the vote of the 15-member body on Tuesday. The United States, France and Britain opposed this because they believed that six months was insufficient for aid organizations to effectively plan and operate.
A resolution requires nine votes to pass and cannot be vetoed by Russia, China, the United States, France, or the United Kingdom.
13 council members supported a one-year extension; China avoided. However, Russia initially vetoed the measure. Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polansky said Moscow would continue to exercise its veto on texts other than its own.
Richard Govan, director of the Crisis Group at the United Nations, noted that China lobbied for a deal and did not join Russia in casting a veto, adding that "the Russians got to shape the outcome of the process, but They seemed so alone. Along the way."
On Friday, only Russia and China voted in favor of the Russian draft; The other 10 council members decided to abstain.
Russia claims that the UN aid mission violates Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty. There is concern among the opposition that more aid should be distributed at the domestic level and that it will come under government control.
The Security Council's vote on the authorization of the aid campaign has historically been divisive, but this year's vote coincides with increased hostilities between Russia and Western powers over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In 2014, the Security Council approved the distribution of humanitarian aid to Syrian opposition areas from two locations in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. However, veto-yielding countries Russia and China have reduced it to a single Turkish border point.
According to the most recent Irish-Norwegian text, if a new resolution is adopted, the agreement will be extended for another six months starting in January 2023. Additionally, it mandates a briefing and a special report on the implementation of the system every two months. Humanitarian aid to the region needs to be presented to the UN Secretary-General by 10 December.
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