UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday extending humanitarian aid deliveries to 4.1 million people in Syria’s rebel-held northwest for just 6 months in a victory for Russia.
The vote was 12-0, with the United States, Britain and France, which backed a resolution for a year-long extension that was vetoed on Friday by Russia, abstaining.
Ireland and Norway, which had sponsored the vetoed resolution, circulated a new draft Monday that provides for a six-month extension of deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing until Jan. 10, 2023. As Russia demanded, a further six-month extension after that would require a new Security Council resolution.
Ireland’s U.N. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason said before the vote that after difficult negotiations the two countries “redoubled efforts to meet the dire needs in Syria.”
Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
