‘Devastating consequences’: Dire warning over Syria aid shutdown

Critics say if UN Security Council fails to renew cross-border relief operation it will be ‘catastrophic’ for civilians.

Millions of people in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province face “catastrophic” consequences if a cross-border aid operation is shut down during a Security Council vote next month, humanitarian advocates warned. In Idlib, northwest Syria, much-needed humanitarian relief supplies are brought in through a single border post on the Turkey-Syria border, Bab al-Hawa. However, the UN mandate that regulates the operation will expire on July 10, and its renewal remains uncertain. About three million people in Idlib depend on UN aid, mostly women and children who have been displaced often throughout the bloody 10-year war.