Plea for Turkey Syria border to be kept open

A top aid official on Friday urged that the border crossings from Turkey into the northwest of Syria remain open a day after the territory had its first coronavirus infection confirmed.

This comes as the UN Security Council struggles to agree on a resolution to keep the border crossings functional amid disagreement between Russia and the West.

Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed resolution earlier this week that would have left the two currently open crossings functional, while a Russian draft, which would have closed one of them, was voted down.

Kevin Kennedy, the UN's Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, told the AP that leaving only one crossing open would make aid delivery more time-consuming, more costly, and more dangerous in a territory that is controlled by different armed groups.

The wrangling over access comes as the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Idlib province, the last rebel-held area of Syria, on Thursday.

There have been major concerns of an outbreak in northwestern Syria, an area packed with more than 3 million people, many of them living in tents and encampments, and where health facilities have been devastated by Syria's long civil war.

Hospitals are suspending non-emergency procedures and outpatient services, a doctor in the area said om Friday, and the regional education department also announced it was closing all schools as a response to the first confirmed infection.

On Friday, hours before the current Security Council resolution on the aid was to expire, 31 trucks carrying medicine and other supplies crossed into northwestern Syria from Turkey through the crossing Russia wants to shut down.

U.N. agencies have been stocking up aid and relief supplies in the enclave in recent few weeks, a sign of nervousness over continued access.

(Representative Image)