Negotiations continue on Sunday July 10 at the UN over the extension of the cross-border mechanism allowing the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid to millions of Syrians in areas not controlled by the regime, diplomats said.
Read alsoSyria: the cessation of crucial UN aid threatens millions of people
In force since 2014, this authorization to deliver UN aid via the Bab al-Hawa crossing point, on the Syrian-Turkish border, must stop at midnight on Sunday after Russia vetoed a draft resolution on Friday. extending for a year without the approval of the Syrian authorities.
According to diplomats, Moscow still insists on an extension limited to six months, possibly renewable, to authorize the UN to use this passage, which makes it possible to avoid areas controlled by the regime.
To break the impasse, the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council have proposed a nine-month extension, according to diplomats, refused by Moscow.
This cross-border system comes to the aid of more than 2.4 million people in areas of the province of Idlib and the north of the neighboring province of Aleppo under the control of jihadist and rebel groups.
"
Negotiations are continuing
," a diplomat in New York told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“
We are stuck where we were on Friday
,” said an ambassador who also wished not to be identified.
For Moscow, which has a right of veto in the Security Council and which has considerably reduced these measures in recent years, which in its eyes violate the sovereignty of Syria, the delivery of aid to the north-west of the country should only be carried out from Damascus across the front lines.
"
Russia has not changed its position
," said Sunday, on condition of anonymity, another ambassador member of the Security Council.
A vote in the Security Council is still possible at the start of the week, several sources said, and the Council has already extended this mechanism after its expiry date.
"
Besieged
"
Without an agreement, international aid could continue to be provided in other forms to be defined, but without having the same effectiveness.
"
So far, we have no information on the mechanism that will be put in place
," Mazen Allouche, a rebel official at the Bab al-Hawa crossing, told AFP on Sunday.
"
UN partner humanitarian groups, which operate in areas liberated (from regime control), have an emergency response plan
" in case the UN authorization is not extended, he said. he added.
According to Mazen Allouche, civilians and non-UN relief convoys, including those sent by Turkish aid groups, would still be allowed to cross the crossing when it reopens.
But he estimates that the available stocks will not be enough for “
more than a month
”.
More than 4,600 aid trucks carrying mainly food have passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing this year, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
On Sunday, the crossing was closed for the second consecutive day due to Eid al-Adha, the major Muslim festival of sacrifice.
Its reopening is scheduled for Wednesday.
“
If aid deliveries are diverted to (areas controlled by) the regime, we will effectively be besieged
,” Abu Mohmmad, a 45-year-old displaced living in a camp in northern Idlib, told AFP.
“
They want to starve us and bring us to our knees
,” the father of four lamented.