The UN Security Council on July 8 voted down a Russian resolution calling for humanitarian aid access to Syria's mainly rebel-held northwest to be reduced to one crossing point from Turkey.
Russia, Syria’s closest ally, circulated the draft resolution after it joined China on July 7 in vetoing an initial draft resolution to maintain aid deliveries through two border crossing points from Turkey for a year.
A new proposal is likely to be circulated calling for two crossings from Turkey in a mandate lasting six months. Its chances of passing before the current mandate expires on July 10 are unclear.
The Russian resolution needed a minimum of nine yes votes in the 15-member council and it got support from only four countries -- Russia, China, Vietnam, and South Africa.
Seven countries -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, and the Dominican Republic -- voted against it and the remaining four countries abstained.
The resolution that Russia and China nixed on July 7 would have maintained two border crossing points from Turkey into Syria for humanitarian aid deliveries for a year.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has said the two crossings are “a lifeline” for millions of civilians who cannot be reached by UN aid by any other means.
Authorization for cross-border humanitarian aid without interference from Damascus has existed since 2014, with periodic extensions.
The aid currently passes through two crossing points on the Turkish border -- at Bab Al-Salam, which leads to the Aleppo region, and Bab Al-Hawa, which serves the opposition-held Idlib region.
Under its resolution, Moscow had wanted to abolish the Bab Al-Salam crossing point and put a time limit of six months on the second. The Bab Al-Salam crossing allows for shipments of humanitarian aid to between 3 million and 4 million people living in the Idlib region.
The proposal also argued that the delivery of the aid could be improved if it were under the control of the Syrian regime.
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