McCaul, Engel, Risch, Menendez Support U.N. Cross-Border Humanitarian Operations

Statement

Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Republican Leader Michael McCaul and Chairman Eliot Engel, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch and Ranking Member Bob Menendez, released the following statement in support of diplomatic negotiations at the United Nations to maintain the two current cross-border humanitarian operations and restore the Ya'rubiyah border crossing between Iraq and northeast Syria. The Members previously sent a letter to the Administration calling for intensified diplomatic efforts at the UN following Russia and China's veto of an earlier resolution that would have authorized all three crossings.

"It is vital that the UN renew two humanitarian crossings in northwest Syria and restore the humanitarian crossing in northeast Syria. The past six months have demonstrated, with catastrophic results, that the Assad regime is unwilling to facilitate life-saving assistance outside of regime-controlled areas. Russian and Chinese efforts to block these humanitarian crossings represent a cruel and inhumane attempt to prop up the Assad regime at the expense of the Syrian people. The UN has a responsibility to the Syrian people to ensure that assistance, including medical assistance to treat COVID-19, can be provided by permitting all three crossings."