Rival UN resolutions on Syria cease-fire shot down

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Rival United Nations humanitarian resolutions on Syria calling for a cease-fire in the country’s last rebel stronghold were defeated in the Security Council Thursday, reflecting the deep divisions that have prevented the UN’s most powerful body from taking action to end the eight-year Syrian conflict.

The double defeat left civilians in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province still facing what UN deputy humanitarian chief Ursula Mueller called an “alarming” humanitarian situation as winter approaches.

She told the council before the votes that an estimated 400,000 people have fled their homes in Syria’s northwest in just the last four months, and around 600,000 are living in tents, camps or out in the open. Idlib is home to some 3 million people, many of them already displaced from other parts of the war-torn country.

Idlib is dominated by the al-Qaeda-linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Syrian forces, backed by Russia, had targeted Idlib in a four-month ground and air offensive but civilians have been widely affected as well as hospitals, health facilities and other civilian infrastructure.

A cease-fire that went into effect at the end of August has held despite some violations.

In the first vote, Russia and China vetoed a resolution backed by the vast majority of the 15-member council that called for a cease-fire starting Saturday. That resolution also demanded that counter-terrorism activities comply with international humanitarian law and ensure the protection of civilians. The vote was 12-2 with Equatorial Guinea abstaining.

A rival resolution drafted by Russia and China was then put to a vote. It made no mention of counter-terrorism activities and would have exempted military actions against “terrorist groups” from a cease-fire.

It was defeated because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for adoption. Only Russia and China voted “yes” while nine council nations — including the US, Britain and France which have veto power — voted “no,” and four abstained.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council the aim of the first resolution — drafted by Germany, Belgium and Kuwait — was “to save the international terrorists who are entrenched in Idlib from their final defeat.”

Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen countered that supporters of the purely humanitarian resolution “stand firm in our resolve to combat terrorism” — but insisted that operations must ensure protection of civilians as required by international law.

Mueller, the deputy humanitarian chief, said that following months of intensive fighting and a “fragile cease-fire,” the outlook for Idlib province remains uncertain.

She said humanitarian organizations estimate an addition $68.4 million is required for winterization, shelter and non-food items.

A major conflict in Idlib has raised the possibility of a mass refugee flow to Turkey, which borders the rebel-held province and already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

Turkish President Erdogan has previously warned that Turkey could “open its gates” and allow Syrians already living in his country to flood Western countries if Turkey is left to shoulder the refugee burden alone.