The US State Department: Humanitarian assistance to Syria should not be used for political gains
The US State Department spokesman Ned Price stressed that humanitarian assistance entering Syria should not be treated as a bargaining chip, and it should not be used for political gains.
Price said in a press conference yesterday: “differences between Russia and any other country should not stand in the way of cross-border humanitarian assistance entering into Syria.”
Price pointed out that there are millions of Syrians who are extremely vulnerable to food insecurity, and despite the conditions they are going through, they continue to live a decent life.
Price noted the visit of the American ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to Bab al-Hawa on the Syria-Turkey border crossing last week, and justified her visit that she went to shed light on the need of keeping this remaining border crossing.
She stressed that Bab al-Hawa crossing “facilitates providing humanitarian assistance and meets the needs of Syrian people.”
She previously stated that humanitarian aid delivery into Syria will continue even if Russia halted the mechanism of entering aid into Syria.
Greenfield confirmed her determination to work on extending the UN cross-border aid mechanism, and to put pressure on Russia, as happened last year, to prevent the closure of Bab al-Hawa crossing, the only cross for entering aid.
The mechanism of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, which was approved by the UN Security Council last year, expires on the tenth of next July.
