Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

Syrians call for aid crossing to remain open ahead of key UN vote

Syrians call for aid crossing to remain open ahead of key UN vote

The UN Security Council will vote on whether to keep using the only border crossing available for UN humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian organisations in northwestern Syria have held a sit-in demanding the United Nations Security Council keep a vital humanitarian aid crossing open.

The UNSC is set to vote later on Thursday on whether to extend a cross-border mechanism that allows humanitarian aid to directly enter opposition-held areas of Syria without first going through areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Attendees at the sit-in, held near the Bab al-Hawa crossing that links Idlib province with Turkey, said that the mandate that allows UN aid to pass through the crossing had to be renewed, and pointed to the potential risks to civilians in northwestern Syria if that does not happen.

“Russia and the Security Council need to take the right decision when it comes to the future of the Syrian people,” Uday al-Hussain, one of the organisers of the sit-in, told Al Jazeera. “The international community needs to carry out its responsibility and stop the lifesaving humanitarian aid file from turning into a political bazaar in the hands of Russia and its allies.”

Bab al-Hawa is the only crossing that can currently be used for UN humanitarian aid. Four were approved in 2014, but Chinese and Russian vetoes at the Security Council have removed three from the approved list.

Russia has now proposed amendments reducing the year-long mandate renewal to six months, meaning a potential division at the Security Council and the same issue arising again in six months if the Russian amendment is approved.

Moscow has argued that passing aid through the border crossings into opposition territory violates the authority of the Syrian government.

Russia is a key ally of al-Assad and swung the country’s war decisively in his favour when it intervened militarily in 2015.

Participants in the sit-in said that the uncertainty over whether the crossing would remain open would jeopardise the lives of the 4.5 million people who live in northwestern Syria, including approximately 2.5 million internally-displaced people (IDP).

Supporters of the Syrian opposition are worried that Russia will veto an extension of the cross-border aid mechanism


Speaking to Al Jazeera, Raed al-Saleh, the head of the Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said that aid to Syria should not be held hostage by Russia.

“Russia has used its veto 16 times to support the al-Assad regime, and now it is taking advantage of the international abandonment of the Syrian file to limit aid,” said al-Saleh. “Suspending the procedure by which humanitarian aid passes through the border and instead goes through conflict zones, is similar to giving a killer an extra weapon to kill its victim.”

Al-Saleh added: “The al-Assad regime has a dark history of using humanitarian aid as a weapon of war and hunger against the Syrians opposing his ruling; he did it previously in the areas seized by his army, killing the people in Eastern Ghouta, the countryside of northern Homs, Aleppo, and al-Zabadani. He is also doing the same currently in Rukban camp on the Jordanian border.”


‘Only lifeline’


Even in comparison with the rest of Syria, which has been going through an economic crisis as a result of the war and the effect of several global factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and rising inflation, northwestern Syria stands out.

“The renewal of the resolution is absolutely critical,” said Joe English, UNICEF’s emergency communication specialist. “Many families rely on humanitarian aid to survive, especially people who have been displaced, often multiple times. With 80 percent of those in need of support women and children, the cross-border operations are currently the only lifeline for nearly one million children in the northwest of Syria – children who are among the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.”

“Failure to renew would immediately disrupt the UN’s lifesaving humanitarian response, plunging children and families in northwest Syria into deeper misery,” English added.

The precariousness of the situation, and the reality that access to humanitarian aid is dependent on forces that the opposition has actively fought against is a sobering reality for those living in northwestern Syria, many of whom have been forced out of their homes by the Syrian government forces in the past few years.

“We don’t trust the al-Assad regime and his control over the humanitarian aid file,” Abdul Salam al-Youssef, a Syrian IDP living in northern Idlib, told Al Jazeera. “How could we do so with someone who attacked us with missiles, killed us, and displaced us from our homes?”

“Currently, thousands of trucks filled with aid enter every month,” al-Youssef said. “We are on the verge of famine, what will happen if the aid stops, or if they only allow a few to enter?”



Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×