°®Âþµº

Ireland and Norway, non-permanent members of the , reaffirmed support on Tuesday for the to keep open a border crossing through which humanitarian aid reaches war-torn Syria's rebel-held Idlib region.

The from Turkey into Syria will close on July 10 unless it receives authorisation to stay open for another year in a Security Council vote on Thursday.

Russia, which wields veto power at the council and is a staunch ally of the Damascus regime, , preferring to see the aid delivered from Damascus and arguing the existing crossing is used to supply arms to rebel fighters.

"We're hoping to see a successful renewal later this week," said Irish ambassador to the UN Geraldine Byrne Nason ahead of a closed-door meeting on humanitarian assistance to Syria.

"We understand its politically sensitive, we're making a purely humanitarian case," she told reporters.

Some three million people live in rebel-dominated , more than half displaced by the country's decade-long conflict.

For the past year, international organisations have been able to bring in medicine, food, blankets and Covid-19 vaccines through the Bab al-Hawa crossing - the only crossing for aid into the region that bypasses Damascus.

Norway's UN envoy Mona Juul said it was "incredibly important" to get the "maximum" assistance into Syria.

"It's a lot at stake, it's really a life and death issue for so many," she added.

Ireland and Norway presented a draft resolution in late June that seeks to keep the crossing open for one year and to reopen a second crossing point, Al-Yarubiyah, which allows supplies to reach Syria's northeast from Iraq.

Humanitarian organisations have been pleading for months for an extension of the UN authorisation.