New Syria Aid Vote Sets Up Clash between Russia, West at UN

The UN Security Council is set to vote Friday on extending cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, according to diplomats, with Russia pushing for aid reduction and setting up a showdown with the West.

The authorization for the aid, which enters the country without the formal permission of the regime in Damascus, has been in place since 2014 and is set to expire Friday. 

Four million Syrians directly benefit from the cross-border aid shipments.

A vote on the matter in December saw the Security Council's 15 members split as Russia and China vetoed a European proposal to extend the aid entering through three spots in Turkey and Iraq for a year. 

"The Russian Federation's and China's veto yesterday of a Security Council resolution that allows for humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians is shameful," Pompeo said in a statement at the time, saying the two countries "have blood on (their) hands."

A competing Russian resolution included only two entry points at the Turkish border and would have extended the authorization for only six months, but it failed to get the minimum nine votes.

After a week of negotiations without an agreement -- including a rare four meetings on the same subject with the council's permanent members -- Germany and Belgium suggested Thursday an option that is similar to the Russian position, according to a proposal obtained by AFP. 

The new proposal maintains two access points on the Turkish border and one on the Iraq border, and calls for just a six-month renewal until July 10, instead of a year. 

Russia again came back with a counter-offer, repeating its request to authorize only two aid access points on the Syria-Turkey border for six months. 

Russia, an ally and major supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has used its veto 14 times on Syrian issues since civil war broke out there in 2011.