UN Unanimously Approves Resolution On Syria To Allow Aid Convoys

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution on Syria allowing aid convoys to go into rebel-held areas without government approval.

Until now, almost 90 percent of UN humanitarian aid in Syria has gone to people in government-controlled areas.  

It is hoped the new resolution will bring urgently needed supplies to at least one-point-three million people. 

The Syrian government has warned it would regard such deliveries as a violation of its national sovereignty. 

Its sponsors originally wanted blanket access across Syria's borders and for the resolution to come with the threat of sanctions in the event of non-compliance. 

But under the agreed wording, aid shipments will travel through four different border crossings - two in Turkey, one in Iraq and another in Jordan.  

All three neighbouring countries already host large numbers of refugees from the four-year conflict.

Source:  BBC