The US government has issued a call for humanitarian aid to enter Syrian rebel territory. Report that international news agencies. The aid must be able to pass through all border crossings to all affected areas, a White House spokesman said on Sunday. Currently, only the border crossing that connects the Turkish region of Hatay and the Syrian town of Bab al Hawa is open. “Every hour counts,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “People in the affected areas are counting on us. We cannot abandon them.”
In particular, the United States is calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to allow aid workers access to all of Syria, including the northwestern areas held by rebels. The aid there last week lagged behind the rest of the country, the Syrian government does not allow aid there without its approval. It came Thursday, when Assad allowed aid into rebel territory for the first time. A United Nations spokesman said on Sunday that aid from government areas would now again be held up by “approval problems” from one of the rebel groups.
This article is also part of our live blog: US calls for access to Syrian rebel territory