UN to Vote on Humanitarian Aid for Syria

The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Friday on whether to continue humanitarian aid operations from Turkey into northern Syria. 

Western council members, the U.N. and humanitarian groups have proposed a 12-month continuation of the operation, while Russia, Syria’s closest ally, proposed a six-month extension on Thursday, setting the stage for two votes on rival draft resolutions.  If no agreement or compromise is reached, the aid operation could be forced to shut down on Saturday.  Negotiations continued throughout this week. “The penholders are still firmly committed to the most ambitious renewal we can have,” Ireland’s envoy Geraldine Byrne Nason told reporters on Thursday. Ireland and Norway are the penholders – the drafters – of resolutions on Syria’s aid filed in the Security Council.