Moscow prepares for another UN fight over Syria aid deliveries

Russia laid the groundwork on Wednesday for another fight over whether the UN Security Council should renew approval of humanitarian aid deliveries from Turkey to about 4 million people in northwestern Syria, which is due to expire on Jan. 10.

Authorization by the 15-member council is needed because the Syrian regime did not agree to the operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter to an opposition-controlled area of Syria since 2014.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in a report this month that the aid access from Turkey was "a lifeline for millions of people" and the renewal of approval was critical, a "moral and humanitarian imperative."

Russia, which has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that began in 2011, argues that the UN operation violates Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. It says more aid should be delivered from inside the country, raising opposition fears that food and other aid would fall under government control.

"The humanitarian situation in Syria, to be perfectly frank, creates a less than favorable context for the discussion about extending cross border mechanisms," Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council.

"This is not because we're against assistance to ordinary Syrians ... we're rather in favor of the world community, helping all Syrians without discrimination, without politicization," he said.

Guterres said in his report to the council that aid deliveries from within Syria "remain unable to replace the size or scope of the massive United Nations cross-border operation."

"Without United Nations cross-border access to the north-west of the country, hunger will increase, millions will be at risk of losing shelter assistance, and access to water will decrease," Guterres said.

Nebenzia said Russia was "not convinced" that there was no alternative to the delivery of aid into Syria from Turkey.

In 2014, the Security Council authorized aid deliveries into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. But Russia and China, which have veto powers, have whittled that down to just one Turkish border point.

(Reuters)