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UN to vote Monday on aid deliveries from Turkiye to northwest Syria -- either for 6 months or 1 year

A Syrian family sits in front of their tent at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (Bilal Hussein/AP Photo) A Syrian family sits in front of their tent at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)
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UNITED NATIONS -

The UN Security Council is to vote Monday on extending aid deliveries from Turkiye to Syria's rebel-held northwest, with a resolution sponsored by Brazil and Switzerland calling for a 12-month extension and a rival Russia resolution limiting a renewal to just six months.

The delivery of aid to the area has increased significantly following the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkiye and northwestern Syria on Feb. 8.

Syrian President Bashar Assad opened two additional crossing points from Turkiye to increase the flow of assistance to quake victims, and he extended their operation for three months in May until mid-August. But those crossings are not mentioned in either resolution.

The rival resolutions obtained Friday by The Associated Press virtually ensure that aid deliveries will continue through the main Bab al-Hawa crossing for at least six months.

Syria's northwestern province of Idlib is home to some four million people, many of whom have been forced from their homes during the 12-year civil war, which has killed nearly a half million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million. Hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib live in tent settlements and rely on aid that comes through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

The earthquake caused more than 4,500 deaths in northwest Syria and about 855,000 had their homes damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on June 29 that the conflict in Syria has pushed 90 per cent of its people into poverty and that millions face cuts in food aid in July because of a funding shortfall.

He said the US$5.4 billion U.N. humanitarian appeal for Syria -- the world's largest -- is only 12 per cent funded, meaning that emergency food aid for millions of Syrians could be cut by 40 per cent this month. On Friday, he said the U.N. World Food Program needs US$200 million to avoid the food cuts.

The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkiye, Iraq and Jordan through four crossing points into opposition-held areas in Syria. But over the years, Syria's close ally Russia, backed by China, has reduced the authorized crossings to just Bab al-Hawa from Turkiye -- and the mandate from a year to six months. The current six-month term expires Monday.

Russia has pushed for more aid to be delivered across front lines within Syria, which would give the Syrian government control over the shipments. It has also pushed for early recovery projects to provide jobs and help the country's economy.

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