Northwest Syria fears death, catastrophe as cross-border aid at risk
Residents of embattled northwest Syria warned Saturday of a deepening humanitarian crisis following a Russian veto at the UN Security Council that threatens to end cross-border aid deliveries critical to their survival.
Friday's veto of a resolution that would have extended authorisation for UN aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border by one year came on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
It cast a pall over celebrations and has left residents of Syria's last major opposition bastion increasingly worried, at a time when humanitarian needs have reached record levels and hunger rates are at their highest since the start of the conflict in 2011, according to the UN.
"Russia has destroyed our houses, ravaged our children and forced us into displacement... now, it wants to close the (aid) crossing," said Ftaym, a 45-year-old displaced Syrian living in a camp in Idlib province.
"If the Bab al-Hawa crossing closes, cutting us off from the relief and supplies that are delivered to us, then we will die," said the mother of 14 children.
The cross-border mechanism at Bab al-Hawa, which has been in effect since 2014, is set to expire Sunday.
It is the only crossing through which UN assistance can be brought into the rebel-held northwest without navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
More than 4,600 aid trucks, carrying mostly food, have crossed Bab al-Hawa so far this year, helping some 2.4 million people, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
