US envoy postpones visit to Syria-Turkey border, cites Russia concern

 Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 9^th May. –According to the US Mission to the UN on Saturday, US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield has postponed her planned trip to the Syria-Turkey border for Monday, but she will still travel to Brussels, Belgium, next week for a European Union conference on the future of Syria.

Senior State Department official told reporters that Ms. Thomas-Greenfield’s visit came after concerns that Russia may stand in the way of keeping open the single route that allows aid to get into Syria.

Biden administration is preparing to make the case for the need to maintain cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria, the official stated

Ukraine is facing a massive humanitarian crisis, where millions has been displaced.

Sr. official at the Biden administration told reporters on Friday before the visit to the border was postponed: “Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s message is going to precisely be that refugees from the conflict in Syria are not forgotten. … Our focus is on addressing humanitarian crises around the world wherever we find them and on seeing them through even over very long periods of time.”

Ms. Thomas-Greenfield had planned to meet with Syrian refugees and the humanitarian organizations supporting them.

She also planned to visit the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which is the only crossing from Turkey into Syria that allows humanitarian assistance to be delivered.

The one-year agreement to keep the Bab al-Hawa border crossing open is set to expire in July, US official said.

The agreement was the result of a UN Security Council resolution last year.

US will have to engage with Russia, and other members of the Security Council in an effort to keep Bab al-Hawa open.

 “It’s very timely because there is a critical moment coming in the Security Council to renew, extend, expand the access to critical humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people. The United States is going to continue to champion that assistance and the role the critical role that the UN has to play in providing that assistance, and to rallying members of the Security Council to support extension of the resolution but also to rally the world around the needs that the Syrian people have and the urgency of this humanitarian crisis even as we address the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine,” State Department official said on Friday.

The topic of the border crossing will be front and center at the UN Security Council in the months ahead.

“I think we’re going to be focused on the same kind of intense diplomatic engagement, making our case in the Council about how dire the situation is and how it will grow even worse if this cross-border assistance is not reauthorized,” the official said.

“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield wants to travel to Turkey to see firsthand and update her knowledge of what the situation is, how urgent the needs are, and be able to take that to the Council, and that’ll be a conversation that Russia is a part of as well.”

Ms. Thomas Greenfield said that Russia has “nothing to celebrate” on Victory Day, cited a string of losses the nation has faced in its war with Ukraine.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield quoted on CNN saying that Russia has escalated the war in Ukraine, which has now stretched on for nearly three months, and that “part of that escalation has been a consequence of their failures.”

“They have nothing to celebrate tomorrow. They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians. They have not succeeded in dividing the world or dividing NATO,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“They have only succeeded in isolating themselves internationally and becoming a pariah state around the globe. So what they’re celebrating tomorrow is their own lack of success.”

Victory Day will be observed on Monday, is one of the largest celebrations in Russia. The holiday celebrates Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Thomas-Greenfield on Sunday said Russia has “felt the consequences of our support for the Ukrainians.”

“The line is where the Russians started. The Russian government invaded Ukraine. They started this war,” she said. “They are attacking the Ukrainian people. And we have been consistent since the start that we will support Ukraine. We will provide them with the wherewithal to fight this war.

She added that “And they are on the ground, and they are pushing back the Russians. So we will continue to provide the kinds of support that they need.”