International
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The U.N. Security Council on Monday authorized the delivery of cross-border aid into rebel-held areas of Syria without the permission of the strife-torn country’s government, in defiance of warnings that such conveys would be deemed an attack.
The unanimously adopted resolution establishes for 180 days a monitoring mechanism for the loading of aid convoys in neighboring countries Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, which will notify Syrian authorities of the "humanitarian nature of these relief consignments." But in a rare case of consensus among the Security Council nations on Syria — and with the backing of Assad regime allies Russia and China — delivery will not be reliant on Damascus giving the green light.
The United Nations says about 10.8 million people in Syria require urgent humanitarian help, of which 4.7 million are in hard-to-reach areas, while another 3 million have fled the conflict. The more than three-year civil war has killed at least 150,000 people.
Syria's government warned the Security Council last month that delivering aid across its borders into opposition-held areas without its consent would amount to an attack.
The council's action is a follow-up to a resolution it adopted in February that demanded rapid, safe and unhindered aid access in Syria. The United Nations said that resolution failed to make a difference.
"The consent of the Syrian authorities will no longer be necessary," Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas told the council after the vote.
The new resolution allows aid deliveries across Al Yarubiyah on the Iraq border, Tal Shihab on the border with Jordan and Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Hawa from Turkey. Both the Turkish crossings have fallen into the hands of Al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State, which has taken over large swathes of Syria and Iraq in the past month.
Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, agreed to support the resolution after more than a month of negotiations on the text drafted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan. A key to winning their votes was a weakening of a threat of further measures, such as economic sanctions, if warring parties did not comply.
Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted the resolution was not as ambitious as the initial text, which demanded blanket cross-border access. However, they said the four crossings could still allow delivery of humanitarian aid to nearly 2 million people.
They had also wanted a Chapter 7 resolution, which covers the council's authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions or military force, but Russia made clear it would block any such resolution.
Russia and China have previously vetoed four resolutions threatening any action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The United Nations said in April it would need a Chapter 7 resolution to be able to deliver aid across borders without the Syrian government's consent.
But the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs believes the resolution adopted on Monday is strong enough to allow the United Nations cross-border aid access without the approval of Damascus, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Al Jazeera and wire services
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