The Secretary-General welcomes the understanding reached yesterday by the United Nations and the Government of Syria on the continued use for the next six months of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to millions of people in need in north-west Syria.

This comes following the engagement between the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, and the Government of Syria for the UN and its partners to continue providing cross-border humanitarian assistance, at the necessary scale and in a principled manner that allows engagement with all parties for the purposes of seeking humanitarian access and that safeguards the UN’s operational independence.

The consent reaffirmed by Syria in recent days provides a basis for the UN and its partners to lawfully conduct cross-border humanitarian operations through Bab al-Hawa.

The Secretary-General also welcomes Syria’s extension of its authorization for the UN to use the Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee border crossings for an additional three months, as well as its consent to cross the lines within Syria at Sarmada and Saraqib for the delivery of assistance for the next six months.