UN Security Council Extends Talks on Cross-border Aid to Syria

The UN Security Council meets in New York, in January 2020 - AFP
The UN Security Council meets in New York, in January 2020 - AFP
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UN Security Council Extends Talks on Cross-border Aid to Syria

The UN Security Council meets in New York, in January 2020 - AFP
The UN Security Council meets in New York, in January 2020 - AFP

The United Nations Security Council will continue negotiating Friday on extending authorization of aid transfers across Syria's border, one day after a scheduled vote was scrapped following disagreement between Russia and the West.

Moscow is seeking a six-month extension, with the possibility to renew, while Western nations want a full year for the transfers, which are being conducted without approval from Damascus.

According to AFP, a vote had been set for Thursday to extend approval of the aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa, the authorization for which has been in effect since 2014 and is set to expire Sunday.

Norway and Ireland, two non-permanent members of the 15-country Council, produced a new text Thursday evening, which would provide for a six-month extension until mid-January 2023, and then an additional six-month extension "unless the Council decides otherwise."

The extension would also be conditional on a "substantive report" by the secretary-general, including on the operation's transparency, progress on channeling aid across the front line, and progress on meeting humanitarian needs.

Uncertainty remained as to whether the proposal would suit Russia and whether a vote would be possible on Friday.

Nearly 10,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid passed through Bab al-Hawa last year, bound for the opposition-held Idlib region in northwestern Syria. It is the only crossing through which aid can be brought into Idlib without navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.

Moscow, which holds veto power on the Security Council and is an ally of Damascus, has curtailed a number of Western-backed measures in recent years.

It views the authorization as a violation of Syria's sovereignty, and believes the delivery of aid to the northwest region should only be carried out from Damascus across the front line.

Russia had hinted in recent months that it would oppose an extension, having already forced a reduction in the number of allowed border crossings.

However its latest draft proposal submitted Thursday, which competes with that of Norway and Ireland, proposes extending the aid by six months, with the potential for the Council to decide in January upon another six months.

Western nations have deemed the text unacceptable, as there is no guarantee of an extension at the start of the new year.

The latest competing texts do however call for "further initiatives to broaden the humanitarian activities in Syria," including in water, sanitation, health, education and shelter.

In recent weeks, dozens of NGOs and several senior UN officials have lobbied Security Council members for the yearlong cross-border aid clearance.



Iran's Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says

Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
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Iran's Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says

Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

Iraq will not be negatively affected by the weakening of Iran's influence in the Middle East, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker said, with Baghdad looking to chart its own diplomatic path in the region and limit the power of armed groups.

Mohsen al-Mandalawi spoke to Reuters in a recent interview after seismic shifts in the Middle East that have seen Iran's armed allies in Gaza and Lebanon heavily degraded and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad overthrown by the opposition.

US President Donald Trump's new administration has promised to pile more pressure on Tehran, which has long backed a number of parties and an array of armed factions in Iraq.

Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is trying to avoid upsetting its fragile stability and focus on rebuilding after years of war.

"Today, we have stability. Foreign companies are coming to Iraq," said Mandalawi, himself a businessman with interests in Iraqi hotels, hospitals and cash transfer services.

"Iraq has started to take on its natural role among Arab states. Iran is a neighbor with whom we have historical ties. Our geographical position and our relations with Arab states are separate matters," he said, speaking at his office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies.

"I don't think that the weakening of Iran will negatively impact Iraq."

Mandalawi is a member of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Coordination Framework, a grouping of top politicians seen as having close ties with Iran, and heads the Asas coalition of lawmakers in parliament.

Iraq's balancing act between Tehran and Washington has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups' attacks on Israel and on US troops in the country after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.

That has led to several rounds of tit-for-tat strikes that have since been contained.

During Trump's first 2017-2021 presidency, ties were tense after the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in 2020, leading to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq.