US envoy heads to Turkey seeking to ensure aid to Syrians

The U.S ambassador to the United Nations headed to Turkey late on June 1 seeking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syria across borders, a program Russia has severely limited in recent years while insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance to millions in need.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield's visit comes ahead of the July 10 expiration of the U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries, now reduced from four initial international crossing points to a single border crossing from Turkey to Syria's rebel-held northwest at the insistence of Russia, Syria's closest ally.

The trip also comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's first meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in an announcement Tuesday that Thomas-Greenfield would meet with senior Turkish officials during the Wednesday-Friday visit "to discuss opportunities to strengthen the U.S.-Turkey relationship, work with our NATO ally to address global challenges (and) improve cooperation on Syria."

A senior official at the mission called this "a moment of intense engagement with senior Turkish officials," pointing to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit last week ahead of the Biden-Erdoğan meeting. But the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, would not say whether Thomas-Greenfield would meet with the Turkish president.

"Turkey is a critical NATO ally, and we have a strategic relationship that spans an enormous breadth of issues and concerns, including global and regional security issues, obviously, economic issues related to democracy and human rights," the official said, saying the U.S. expects...