US: Syrians in Dire need of Aid Must Receive it

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the U.N. Security Council to authorize more border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syria, where an estimated 13.4 million people require assistance.

“The Security Council takes up so many challenges that are complicated, this is not one of them,” Blinken told council members. “The lives of people in Syria depend on getting urgent help. We have to do everything in our power to create ways for that aid to get to them — to open pathways, not to close them.” The United States is president of the Security Council this month, and Blinken chaired the monthly discussion of the humanitarian situation in Syria, which entered its second decade of civil war this month. In July, the 15-nation council will have to decide whether to renew or close the last remaining crossing point from Turkey into Syria for the transfer of humanitarian supplies. The one thousand aid-filled trucks which cross monthly through Bab al-Hawa, provide a lifeline to four million people in northwest Syria, which is outside of government control.