Ue United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield on Thursday called on Turkey to keep the Bab al-Hawa crossing open, the last border crossing to allow the transfer of aid to northern Syria threatened by closure by Moscow, expressing concern about the dangers of "worsening the suffering" of millions of people in Syria once it is closed.
The permit to use this crossing point, which has been in force since 2014, expires July 10, and an extension of its work will require a Security Council vote in early July. Moscow threatens to block the vote by vetoing it.
"We have to extend work at this crossing point, we must continue to deliver this assistance," said Thomas Greenfield of a UN logistics centre near Rehanli, three kilometres from the Syrian border.
From this place, last year some 10,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian assistance crossed into Idlib, the last stronghold of armed fighters in Syria, urging nearly three million people to live in difficult conditions.
Observers believe that Moscow is trying to make maintaining this humanitarian crossing a bargaining chip in the context of the war in Ukraine.
"We know that the situation is terrible there, and that people are suffering," she said, stressing that if this crossing point is not renewed, it will affect "millions of Syrians."
"This will exacerbate suffering, increase the number of displaced persons and possibly the number of people who may try to cross the border with Turkey," she said at the end of a 24-hour visit to Turkey.
The mandate, which Moscow threatened to oppose last year, allows humanitarian aid (such as food, medicine, blankets and even vaccines) to be sent from Turkey to Syrians without Damascus's approval through Bab al-Hawa point in northwestern Syria.
On May 20th, Russia announced, by its deputy ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanski, that it saw "no reason to continue this cross-border mechanism" that "violates Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
More than 80% of residents of northwestern Syria rely on the mechanism, according to the United Nations.
Thomas Greenfield said Turkish NGOs not operating under UN supervision could continue to transfer assistance once the crossing was closed, but "I don't think any organization can match the quality and quantity of food delivered across borders through this mechanism."
Since 2020, only the Bab al-Hawa crossing has remained open, and three others have been excluded from the SCOPE of the UN resolution because of Russia's opposition in particular.