The United Nations Security Council on Monday authorized humanitarian access without Syrian government consent into rebel-held areas at four border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, even though Syria has warned it deems such deliveries incursions into its territory, according to The Associated Press.
"The consent of the Syrian authorities will no longer be necessary," Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas told the 15-member Security Council after the vote on the resolution, which was drafted by Luxembourg, Australia and Jordan, the AP reported.
The unanimously adopted resolution established for 180 days a monitoring mechanism for loading aid convoys in neighboring countries, which will notify Syria of the "humanitarian nature of these relief consignments," according to the AP.
The United Nations has said that about 10.8 million people in Syria need help, of which 4.7 million are in hard-to-reach areas. At least 150,000 people have died in Syria's civil war, which is now in its fourth year, the AP reported.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power accused the Syrian government of using denial of aid as "another weapon in its cruel and devastating arsenal against opposition-held areas," according to the AP.
Syria's government warned the Security Council last month that delivering aid across borders into opposition-held areas without its consent would amount to an attack, the AP reported.
"The Syrian Government counts on a neutral, effective and responsible role of the United Nations in dealing with the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in terms of respecting the Syrian sovereignty," Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told the council after Monday's vote, according to the AP. The resolution also authorizes aid deliveries across conflict lines.
The council acted on Monday because of the failure of a resolution it adopted in February demanding rapid, safe and unhindered aid access in Syria, the AP reported.
"The humanitarian situation in Syria has actually worsened," Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan told the council, according to the AP. "Damascus has pursued a calculated policy of arbitrary denial of desperately needed humanitarian relief."
