DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syria has extended permission for the United Nations to use two border crossings for post-earthquake aid for an additional three months, a Syrian official says.
Syria “has decided to extend the permission it granted to the UN and its specialized agencies to use the two border crossings of Bab Alsalama and al-Ra’i for an additional period of three months ending on 13 August,” Bassam Sabbagh, Syria’s UN ambassador, said in a tweet.
“This decision is based on Syria’s keenness on enhancing stability and improving the living and humanitarian situation of all Syrians, and comes within its efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need in all Syria,” he added.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad initially agreed to open the two crossings for three months starting on 13 February, a week after an earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. Parts of the northwest are held by foreign-backed militants in the 12-year-long war.
The UN on Friday asked Syria’s government to extend its approval for the two crossings to deliver aid into opposition-held zones, a spokesperson said.
Furthermore, a senior advisor to the Syrian president says Turkey must end its occupation of the Arab country and withdraw its forces.
Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media advisor to President Assad, made the remarks on Saturday in response to a question raised by IRNA about a recent meeting among the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Turkey and Syria in Moscow.
In a final communiqué at the end of the four-party meeting on Wednesday aimed at reconciliation and resumption of ties between Damascus and Ankara in various dimensions, top diplomats from Iran, Turkey, Russia and Syria underscored the Arab country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
All regional countries agree that Western arrogance is the primary source of conflicts in the region, the Syrian advisor said.
Shaaban said the media play a role of grand significance in countering the Western hegemony and the way their media reflect developments based on their own objectives.