Syria’s government extends permission for UN to bring aid through border crossing with Turkey

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s government is giving the United Nations permission for another six months to use a major border crossing with Turkey to bring aid into the country’s rebel-held northwest.

Syria’s mission to the U.N. said in a statement late Thursday that the Bab al-Hawa crossing should be “effectively operationalized in a way that contributes to helping people in need in northwest Syria.” The statement said the period expires on July 13.

Rebel-held parts of northwest Syria are home to more than 4 million people, many of them displaced by the country’s conflict that broke out in March 2011. The conflict has killed half a million people and displaced half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million.

The U.N. Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan through four crossing points into opposition-held areas in Syria. But over the years, Syria’s closest ally Russia, backed by China, has reduced the authorized crossings to just Bab al-Hawa — and the mandates from a year to six months.

After a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake ravaged northwestern Syria and southern Turkey in February, Syrian President Bashar Assad opened two additional crossing points from Turkey, at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai, to increase the flow of assistance. The term for those expired on Aug. 13.

Living conditions in Syria are deteriorating, with more people in need especially during the harsh winter. Tens of thousands live in tent settlements in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Last month, the U.N. World Food Program said that in January it would end its main assistance program across Syria, where over 12 million people lack regular access to sufficient food.

The U.N. estimates that about 90% of the population lives in poverty. The Syrian pound’s value against the U.S. dollar has crashed over the years, affecting purchasing power.