Syria extends UN aid permission to use Türkiye border

HAMILTON

This aerial view shows the al-Amal camp for displaced people near Sarmada in the northern countryside of the Syrian Idlib province on June 27, 2024.

The U.N. said on July 11 that the Syrian government extended permission to one of its agencies to use a border crossing to deliver humanitarian assistance to the northwest.

The Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced the extension “to deliver humanitarian assistance from Türkiye through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing for an additional six months. That takes us until Jan. 13, 2025," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

Noting that the "extension is essential for the U.N. cross-border operation," Dujarric said the crossing is a "lifeline" for Syrians in the northwest.

"Each month, we and our partners reach on average more than a million people with critical assistance and protection services. This is down significantly from previous years due to growing funding shortfalls," he added.

Dujarric reported that "so far this year, over 90 percent of trucks carrying U.N. aid, and 70 percent of missions by U.N. personnel, used Bab Al-Hawa to reach northwest Syria."

Regarding Gaza, he reiterated the ongoing hostilities and lack of public order are "severely hampering aid operations."

Saying that the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) "has assisted about a quarter of a million people in Gaza so far this month," Dujarric said the agency provided aid to more than 1 million people in Gaza in June.

He conveyed the agency's warning about supplies that are needed for the distribution of hot meals, saying the supplies "will be depleted in just days unless additional stock is received."

According to the U.N. figures, 13 years of civil var have upended the lives of children and their families across the country, leaving 15.3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including 7 million children. Of the country's 6.8 million internally displaced people, 5.3 million require humanitarian support.