Hopes that Russia will drop objections to UN humanitarian aid routes to Syria begin to rise
With only hours left for the UN Security Council to announce the outcome of a vote on a draft resolution extending the mandate for critical aid routes to Syria, hopes are rising that Moscow won't stand in the way.
The UN Security Council is expected to end its virtual deliberations today on a critical cross border aid mechanism that is set to expire Friday, and there are hopeful signs that Russia will not act on its threats to block access through two existing access points to rebel-held northern Syria that run through Turkey.
A well-placed source with close knowledge of the 15-member council’s negotiations said the Russian delegation had not as yet tabled a counter draft or any amendments to a draft resolution put forward by humanitarian penholders Germany and Belgium that call for extending aid pipelines through Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam on the Turkish border.
