UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council is due to vote again Saturday on an extension of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria after Russia and China vetoed a previous measure to the chagrin of Western member states.
Authorization for the transport of aid to war-torn Syria, a system in place since 2014, expired Friday following the two countries' veto earlier in the day and the subsequent rejection of a counterproposal by Moscow.
Saturday's vote will be on a new draft text submitted overnight by Germany and Belgium, which would provide for a single aid access point into Syria.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called in a tweet Saturday "on all delegations to no longer obstruct a compromise." European countries and the US had wanted to maintain two crossing points on the Turkish border - at Bab al-Salam, which leads to the Aleppo region, and Bab al-Hawa, which serves the Idlib region. The latest draft measure calls only for the Bab al-Hawa crossing to be maintained "for a period of twelve months," according to a text obtained by AFP.
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