UN authorizes cross-border aid to Syrians

The UN Security Council unanimously has approved a resolution authorizing cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food and medicine, without government approval.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said several weeks ago that opening these routes could help 1.3 million Syrians and her office said yesterday that if security allows, aid could reach 2.9 million people.
The resolution, passed yesterday, is a rare agreement on Syria among the often divided council, expresses "grave alarm at the significant and rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria."
It deplores the fact that the council's previous demands for humanitarian access "have not been heeded" by the government and opposition fighters.

The United States and many European council members said the resolution would not have been necessary if the Syrian government, especially, had complied with a February resolution demanding that all sides allow immediate access for aid.
Since February, however, President Bashar Assad has continued to bar cross-border deliveries to rebel areas and insist that all shipments go through the capital Damascus, which has meant the overwhelming majority of aid has gone to government-controlled areas.

Monthly reports to the council since February by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the resolution's implementation have described an increasingly dire situation.
Amos told the council on June 26 that the number of Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance has increased from one million in 2011 to 10.8 million, jumping 1.5 million in just the last six months. That includes 4.7 million in hard-to-reach areas, and over 240,000 trapped in besieged areas.

Australia's UN Ambassador Gary Quinlan, who co-sponsored the resolution with Jordan and Luxembourg, called the situation in Syria "the greatest humanitarian crisis this century," adding that only 1 percent of people in besieged areas and only 12 percent in hard-to-reach areas are currently getting aid.
He said the resolution adopted Monday takes "practical steps" to overcome the Syrian government's opposition.