UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- A UN spokesman said on Friday that 49 UN aid trucks transited the reopened Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Türkiye into northwest Syria to deliver relief to Idlib this week.
Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said five truckloads of aid from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) went through Bab al-Hawa Friday, and another six from IOM took the Bab al-Salam crossing route. Bab al-Hawa reopened on Tuesday.
"Additional truck movements and missions by UN personnel are planned in the coming days," Dujarric said. "The UN cross-border operation remains a lifeline to people in northwest Syria. Each month, we and our partners reach an average of 2.6 million people with critical assistance and protection services."
The spokesman said that so far this year, more than 4,000 trucks with UN aid have crossed from Türkiye to northwest Syria using the Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salam and al Ra'ee border crossings. UN personnel completed 224 cross-border missions altogether.
The key Bab al-Hawa crossing was shuttered to UN convoys after the UN Security Council failed to reach an accord on a resolution in July to re-authorize the Syria cross-border humanitarian aid delivery mechanism through the crossing.
The United Nations and Syria worked out an agreement last month allowing for Tuesday's resumption of relief convoys through Bab al-Hawa. ■
