Millions of people in northwest Syria face disaster if the United Nations fails to approve an extension of cross-border humanitarian operations next month, a senior UN aid official said on Thursday.
Some 3 million people, many of them displaced by fighting elsewhere in Syria during the decade-long conflict, have sought shelter near the border with Turkey, outside the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.
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Access for cross-border aid from Turkey was reduced last year to just one crossing point after opposition from Russia and China – permanent Security Council members – to renewing other crossings. A new showdown is likely next month when the operation's mandate must be renewed.
"It's going to be a disaster if the Security Council resolution is not extended. We know that people are really going to suffer," said Mark Cutts, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis.
