DISAGREEMENT at the United Nations over a border crossing with Syria’s last rebel-held enclave is putting the 4.1 million Syrians there in danger, the president of the International Rescue Committee warned.

David Miliband’s comments came in an interview with Associated Press reported today over two weeks after the UN security council failed to renew the mandate for the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey, which secures aid for Syrians in the enclave.

The vast majority of people in north-western Syria live in poverty and rely on aid to survive but the crisis was worsened by a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria in February. 

The earthquake killed more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 in Syria, according to the United Nations. The quake also displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Mr Miliband said: “The people of north-west Syria can ill-afford a new wave of suffering, having lived through the trauma of the earthquake.”

He urged the UN security council to “do its job” and resume the humanitarian border crossing.

The council earlier in July failed to adopt one of two rival resolutions on the crossing. 

Russia, a top ally of the Syrian government in Damascus, vetoed a Swiss-Brazilian resolution backed by Western countries that renewed authorisation for the crossing of aid through Bab al-Hawa for six months. 

Moscow’s draft resolution included increasing aid delivery to the opposition enclave through Damascus. 

The paralysis also comes as so-called donor fatigue as well as nations choosing to prioritise military spending has led to aid cuts in aid to both north-western Syria and neighbouring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees who fled the ongoing conflict, now in its 13th year.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad opened two additional crossing points from Turkey at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai to increase the aid flow to the quake victims. 

The UN says that some 85 per cent of its aid to north-western Syria goes through Bab al-Hawa, a more efficient route.

Moscow alleges that militant groups in the north-western province of Idlib are taking the aid and preventing it from reaching families in need. 

For the moment, Mr Miliband said the International Rescue Committee is trying to cope by using other crossings and finding other ways of getting aid into the enclave.

“Our point of view is that interference with the humanitarian crossing point poses severe danger to the efficiency and the effectiveness of humanitarian aid,” he said.