UNSC allows cross-border humanitarian access to Syria

United Nations, July 14 (IANS) The UN Security Council (UNSC) Monday authorised the cross-border delivery of humanitarian assistance to Syrians in urgent need.

In a resolution adopted unanimously here, the 15-nation Security Council expressed "grave alarm at the significant and rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria" and deplored the fact that its previous demands "have not been heeded by the Syrian parties to the conflict", Xinhua reported.

The Security Council authorised the UN humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners to use routes across conflict lines and four additional border crossings "to ensure that humanitarian assistance, including medical and surgical supplies, reaches people in need throughout Syria through the most direct routes, with notification to the Syrian authorities", the resolution said.

The four border crossings include Al-Ramtha on the Syrian border with Jordan, Al Yarubiyah on the Iraq border, and Bab al- Salam and Bab al-Hawa from Turkey.

The security council also decided to establish "a monitoring mechanism" to monitor the loading of all humanitarian relief consignments for passage into Syria across the border crossings", to confirm the humanitarian nature of these relief consignments.

According to the new resolution, cross-border and cross-line humanitarian access and the monitoring mechanism have been authorised for 180 days, after which the authorisation and mechanism will be reviewed.