On July 12th, 2022, the United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution to renew humanitarian operations for 6 months in Syria. This resolution was passed with 12 nations in favor and three abstaining by after a failure to pass a resolution providing aid for 12 months. This verdict has a major impact on the 14.6 million people in need who live in Syria, especially the 7 million receiving aid.

5 days prior, on July 7th, the council had a vote to renew humanitarian operations for 12 months. This was vetoed by Russia, who themselves had posted a stricter resolution only allowing a 6 month extension for humanitarian aid. While that was not passed as not enough nations were in favor, the ensuing negotiations forced the ‘Western’ nations to capitulate and pass a resolution that only supported aid for 6 months. 

The votes on the earlier resolution did reveal something else, according to another source working at the United Nations. China did not vote against the original resolution put forward by Norway and Ireland, which was supposed to renew humanitarian aid for 12 months. Instead, they abstained, meaning they didn’t pick a side. As China is on the ‘Permanent 5’, the five nations that are always in the security council, it has the ability to veto the resolution alongside Russia, but decided not to. This shows that it isn’t entirely agreeing with Russia to vote against the resolution, but isn’t going all the way against Russia at the moment. 

The other 13 nations on the council at the moment (Which are; Albania, Brazil, France, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States) voted for the first resolution, but since Russia voted against it, thus vetoing the resolution, it was struck down. In the latest resolution that passed, all countries voted to pass the resolution except France, the UK, and the US, who all abstained.

The resolution that Russia presented was practically identical, with only a few wording differences and three key differences. The first was that it was only renewing the aid for 6 months. The second was that it was removing a clause that would call upon Syria and other nations to allow full access for aid. The final key change was the establishment of a group including involved parties in the region, security council members,  and big donors to “regularly review follow-up on the implementation of this resolution”, according to a draft resolution. The resolution was voted for by only Russia and China, and voted against by the rest of the council. It wasn’t counted as a veto from France, the US, and the UK as there were not enough votes in favor of the resolution.

There were other attempts to negotiate after the veto, including a proposition to extend the aid for 9 months, according to multiple sources. The Russian delegation refused everything except a 6 month addition. The reason why the United States, Ireland, and Norway are unhappy with, and why Russia is pushing for, a 6 month extension is that the aid will be cut off in winter, when Syrian refugees are at their most vulnerable. This happened in December of 2019, according to one journalist close to the matter, when the Russians used this as a negotiation pawn. This means there could be worries that this may happen again this winter, as the delegate of the United States also noted during his remarks right after the vote, “The vote we took this morning is what happens when one council member takes the entire Security Council hostage.”

All of the legal international aid must be authorized by the United Nations. The UN authorizes general aid, which is given by Non-Governmental Agencies by every year voting to pass a resolution allowing NGOs to send aid through other countries like Turkey. For the UN to send aid, it’s a little more complicated as it only authorizes humanitarian convoys on a case by case basis. These are also occasionally targets of other nations or groups, like in 2016, where it is believed by the United Nations that the Syrian Arab Republic launched air strikes on a convoy hosted by the UN and the Syrian Red Crescent, which is similar to the Red Cross in America.

According to multiple people working in the UN in regards to Syria, an average of 800 trucks of aid were sent monthly, supporting roughly 2.4 million people in need in Syria. If those trucks are blocked this winter due to negotiations within the Security Council, this could spell death and disaster for the nearly 2 and a half million Syrians relying on these trucks of aid.

There is a silver lining though. Anti-Terror operations in the region by both the United States and Turkey (Like Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Peace Spring) have reduced the amount of terror caches in the region, alongside air strikes from Israel. Additionally, fighting came to a halt between Russia and Turkey right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a ceasefire was agreed upon by both nations in March of 2020. This has meant that the front lines haven’t moved much and terror groups are diminishing, lessening the danger of a direct attack on some Syrians. 

However, there is also a bad side to this. Air strikes from Israel hit a major airport in Damascus in June of 2022, including the passenger terminal. This halted aid to some regions for up to 10 days, according to multiple people. Furthermore, not all terrorists have been removed from the region. While terrorism in the Middle east is diminishing, it is stilll heavily present. Syria is the fifth most impacted country in the world, according the the Global Terror Index.

Overall, this resolution was expected by many who are used to the negotiations compromises of the United Nations. The US, France, and the UK are just happy that there isn’t more negative news coming from Syria, and Russia is happy that they have the option in 6 months to use this as a negotiation pawn again. Like most things that come from the UN, this has both a good and a bad side.