THE UNITED Nations security council agreed a resolution to extend humanitarian aid deliveries to areas of northern Syria under the control of jihadist organisations today.

The six-month mandate was passed by delegates after a similar proposal tabled by Russia was rejected last Friday. 

Security council members had been at loggerheads after Russia used its veto to block a resolution calling for a year-long extension proposed by Ireland and Norway last week. 

It favoured a six-month extension with a further six months requiring a new security council mandate. 

The Bab al-Hawa crossing supposedly allows humanitarian aid to reach the 4.1 million people in Syria’s north-western region which is under the control of a myriad of Turkish-backed Islamist organisations. 

But critics say the border post is run by al-Qaida and affiliated jihadist organisations serving as a source of their revenues. 

Much of the humanitarian aid and goods are sold at extortionate rates while the crossing is also used for the transport of weapons, it is alleged. 

US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield hit out at Russia’s veto of the year-long extension saying: “I have long said this is a life-and-death issue. People will die because of this vote.”

But her remarks were seen as hypocritical given that the US has imposed crippling sanctions on Syria in what President Bashar al-Assad has labelled an attempt to starve the people into submission. 

Russia has repeatedly called for increased humanitarian aid to Syria’s north-west from within the country giving Damascus more control.