Syria opens 2 borders, allows more UN aid access from Turkey

Griffiths met with Assad in Damascus on Monday, a week after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing more than 37,000 people.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to allow UN aid deliveries to opposition-held northwest Syria through two additional border crossings from Turkey for three months, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

A view shows damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Harem, Syria February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano (REUTERS)

Assad agreed to open the crossings of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra'ee, Guterres said in a statement after UN aid chief Martin Griffiths met with the Syrian president in Damascus on Monday. Griffiths told the UN Security Council of Assad's decision during a closed-door meeting, diplomats earlier told Reuters.

"As the toll of the Feb. 6 earthquake continues to mount, delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency," said Guterres.

"Opening these crossing points - along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs - will allow more aid to go in, faster," he added.

Since 2014 the UN has been able to deliver aid to millions of people in need in the northwest of war-torn Syria through Turkey under a Security Council mandate, which was adopted after the Syrian government opposed the measure. But the United Nations has been restricted to using just one border crossing.

The Syrian government had opposed the aid deliveries across its border, describing it as a violation of its sovereignty. It says more aid should be delivered across the frontlines of the 12-year-old civil war.

It was not immediately clear if some western council members might still push for the resolution to be adopted enshrining Assad's three-month agreement. A resolution would need nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.