The United States (US) has warned Russia against using its United Nations (UN) veto power to close access to the sole border crossing for sending aid into Syria, stating that it could sour the bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was conducting talks in Rome regarding the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State when he discussed the Bab al-Hawa crossing into Syria from Turkey. Blinken stressed that it was vital to make an effort to “broadening cross-border assistance, which is essential in reaching millions of Syrians who are in dire need of food, medicine, COVID-19 vaccines and other lifesaving aid.”
The sole border passage into Syria is likely to close on July 10 if the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) fails to provide authorisation for another year. Russia, which is singularly responsible for bringing down the number of border openings to one, can lock international access to Syria if it chooses to use its veto power to jeopardise the resolution to extend the authorisation. It is also significant because Syrian President Bashar al-Assad draws much of his international backing from Iran and Russia. Assad has wrested back control of most parts of Syria after a brutal decade-long civil war and claims that Damascus as a sovereign power should have sole prerogative over aid deliveries.
A senior US official, accompanying Blinken, said, “Obviously, we don’t want any permanent UN Security Council member to veto that.” “What’s been made clear from the president all the way down to much lower-level officials to the Russians and others is that we want to have a constructive relationship with Russia on the areas on which we can work together, and we think Syria ought to be one of them,” the official added. He explained that “the test is going to be whether or not we can maintain and expand these cross-border mechanisms. If we’re not able to work together on this basic human need, that will make it very difficult to work on anything else with the Russians concerning Syria more broadly.”
President Joe Biden reportedly brought up the issue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a special bilateral summit in Geneva on June 16 to enhance better cooperation and communication between Washington and Moscow. Both presidents seemed optimistic about better relations between Russia and the US and hoped that the summit would bring more stability to the bilateral ties after months of soaring tensions. With the Syria border issue stuck in a rut, whether the breath of fresh air from the Geneva summit can impact diplomacy on the UN floor remains to be seen.
However, Blinken stressed that the United States hopes for more stable and predictable relations with Russia but would be forced to respond if the latter continues to be aggressive.
Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged all Security Council members to reach a consensus to preserve the crossing, allowing aid to reach about three million people living in the Idlib region. Despite the US and its allies putting pressure to allow the continued operation of the critical humanitarian aid route into Syria, Russia has still not budged, even with the deadline just ten days away.
US Warns Russia Not to Use its UN Veto to Restrict Access to Send Aid Into Syria
The US warned Russia not to invoke its veto power in the UNSC to shut the sole border crossing for sending aid into Syria, saying it could endanger bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow.
June 30, 2021
SOURCE: TRT WORLD