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NEW YORK —The United Nations said Tuesday that the Syrian government has extended its permission for the U.N. to use two crossing points from Turkey into opposition-held areas of northwest Syria for an additional three months, but the organization is still working on resolving differences over a third crossing point.
Spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that the U.N. received a letter on August 6 from Damascus notifying it of the decision to renew the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra'ee border crossings until November 13.
This is the second time the Syrian regime has renewed the crossings for three-month periods since opening them following the February 6 earthquakes. This has allowed the U.N. to take in needed humanitarian supplies to millions of Syrians who were already struggling from the impact of years of war and a crippling economic crisis.
A third crossing point, Bab al-Hawa, was originally authorized under a U.N. Security Council resolution. In July, however, Russia, which has sought to gradually shutter the nine-year-old cross-border aid operation, vetoed a nine-month renewal of Bab al-Hawa, which would have gotten aid agencies and residents through the worst winter months.
Damascus later offered to let the U.N. use Bab al-Hawa, but with conditions. Haq said the U.N. is working to resolve obstacles with Damascus but has not resumed using the crossing because of it.
"At this stage we are still working to resolve those obstacles," Haq told reporters. "We are hopeful that we can do so, and we do stand ready to resume operations if those obstacles are overcome."
The U.N. says it moves about 85% of aid to northwest Syria via Bab al-Hawa.
All three crossings were originally authorized by the U.N. Security Council, overriding any need for the government of Bashar al-Assad to give its permission. But since 2021, Russia has thrown its support behind the Assad regime, which wants to internally control aid distribution, and gradually sought to permanently shut down the council-authorized operations.
More than four million Syrians live in areas outside of the government's control, and the U.N. says it reaches 2.7 million of them monthly with life-saving aid via Bab al-Hawa. The U.N. says distribution of aid across internal front lines cannot adequately substitute for the volume of supplies it brings in via the cross-border operation.