UN Security Council extends Syria cross-border aid for six months
Aid agencies say the short-term extension puts more than 4 million Syrian lives on the line.
The United Nations Security Council voted Tuesday to continue sending cross-border aid into northwestern Syria for just six months, a win for Russia that Western diplomats and aid groups say falls short of what is needed to address the country’s humanitarian crisis.
The vote marks an embarrassing defeat for the 15-member body, which on Friday rejected a similar Russian measure calling for a six-month extension of the cross-border mechanism that since 2014 has allowed the UN to send food, fuel and medicine into Syria without the permission of Damascus.
"The vote we took this morning is what happens when one council member takes the entire Security Council hostage," said US Deputy UN Ambassador Richard Mills.
"This is such a heartless play. It will only serve to hurt the Syrian people,” Mills said after the vote.
