US envoy to UN Kelly Craft says there is ‘no plan B’ for helping war-weary Syrians
Washington’s envoy to the United Nations Kelly Craft on Friday pledged to ensure that millions of Syrians continue receiving much-needed humanitarian support via cross-border operations from Turkey.
Addressing reporters in New York as the U.S. assumed the month-long, rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, Craft stressed the need to keep aid flowing across the Turkey-Syria border.
“Millions of people in Syria rely on this UN cross-border … aid to survive and there there is no Plan B. So, this has to happen, there is no alternative,” Craft said at a press briefing.
“We support Turkey adding the fifth border. That is very important in order to access the growing number of humanitarian needs.”
The UN Security Council is set to debate Syria’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis on Dec. 19, including a UN-mandated cross-border aid delivery scheme operating from Turkey that is set to expire in January.
Since the cross-border operation was authorized in July, some 30,000 trucks have brought food, water, medicine, shelter and other support into Syria. The system has scaled up by 40% during the escalating crisis, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said last month.
“Over the next 12 months, the council's best efforts should be directed toward keeping the entry points through which the humanitarian agencies is delivered. This is essential to creating peace for the people in Syria,” said Craft.
