Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, has said such deliveries, authorized by a Security Council resolution that expires in January, impinge on Syria’s sovereignty. The debate over cross-border aid comes as the government of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, with military backing from Russia, has reclaimed a great deal of the territory it lost over nearly seven years of war. The Syrian government has long insisted that organizations wanting to work in government-held areas cannot work in rebel-held territory. It threw out one large aid group, Mercy Corps, in 2014, for doing so. Aid workers say that such restrictions violate humanitarian principles, and that they must be allowed to work in areas where needs are greatest.

Source: New York Times December 06, 2017 20:03 UTC