UNITED NATIONS, Jan 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security
Council will meet behind closed doors on Friday to discuss an uptick in
violence in the embattled Syrian opposition stronghold of Idlib.
The meeting — which will begin at 10 (1500 GMT) — comes at the
request of Britain and France, with the backing of the United States,
diplomats said.
Some diplomats hope the session will provide an occasion to discuss the
reauthorization of cross-border UN humanitarian aid deliveries to millions of Syrians.
Humanitarian aid currently flows into Syria through UN-designated
checkpoints in Turkey and Iraq without the formal permission of the regime in Damascus, but that arrangement expires on Jan 10.
Last month, Russia and China vetoed a resolution that would have extended
those deliveries for a year. Moscow says it will only approve a six-month
extension using two checkpoints.
Three million people in the Idlib area benefit from that aid, according to
the United Nations.
In a telephone call on Thursday, US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s
Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on “the need for de-escalation in Idlib, Syria,
in order to protect civilians,” the White House said.
On Thursday, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities in the northwest of Syria.”
“We call on those fighting, especially in the northwest, and those with
influence over them for the following: stop all attacks on children and
services that provide for them, including health and education facilities and
water systems,” she said in a statement.
According to UNICEF, at least 140,000 children have been displaced in the
past three weeks due to fighting in and around Idlib.
Syrian ally Russia announced a ceasefire for Idlib in late August after
months of deadly Russian and regime bombardment that killed around 1,000 civilians.
But sporadic clashes and bombardment persisted throughout the autumn before a spike in violence in the past month, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. — NNN-AGENCIES