WEBVTT 00:00.399 --> 00:05.399 JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend a crucial aid 00:05.780 --> 00:10.780 operation for Syria one day before it was set to close, after a deal between the U.S. 00:11.790 --> 00:16.670 and Russia. The White House said that President Biden and Vladimir Putin discussed it on a 00:16.670 --> 00:21.670 phone call. But, as Nick Schifrin reports, some humanitarian groups say the deal doesn't 00:22.119 --> 00:27.119 go far enough for the millions of Syrians in desperate need. NICK SCHIFRIN: For Syrian 00:29.169 --> 00:34.169 children near the Turkish border, the only way to survive is to search through scraps. 00:34.390 --> 00:39.390 Ten-year-old Mohammad Adi begins every day at dawn. If he finds enough pieces of steel, 00:39.880 --> 00:43.370 he can eat. MOHAMMAD ADI, 10 Years Old (through translator): I collect and sell steel I find 00:43.370 --> 00:47.870 here, so that I can afford to buy a loaf of bread. There's no one that can afford to spend 00:47.870 --> 00:52.870 money on us. We have to work, so that we can spend what we earn on ourselves. NICK SCHIFRIN: 00:53.460 --> 00:58.460 The children live here in the nearby Al-Amal camp. In Northwest Syria, desperation is everywhere. 00:59.400 --> 01:03.810 Thousands of Syrians who have come here after fleeing their homes say all they have left 01:03.810 --> 01:08.810 is God and the United Nations. For the weathered and the weak, whose houses were destroyed 01:10.230 --> 01:15.230 by airstrikes, this arid camp is now home. Fahmy Al-Saud says if the last humanitarian 01:16.590 --> 01:21.590 aid crossing had closed, everyone would have turned to the trash not to trade steel, but 01:21.910 --> 01:25.240 for food itself. FAHMY AL-SAUD, Syria (through translator): If they close the border, where 01:25.240 --> 01:30.240 will people go? They will go to the landfills. If they find fruit scraps, they will eat them. 01:30.450 --> 01:35.450 They will eat out of starvation, that level of starvation. NICK SCHIFRIN: In 2014, the 01:35.940 --> 01:40.770 U.N. Security Council approved four border crossings for humanitarian aid into Syria. 01:40.770 --> 01:45.770 In January 2020, Russia used a veto threat to close two crossings. Seven months later, 01:46.280 --> 01:50.850 under pressure from Russia and China, the U.N. closed a third crossing, leaving only 01:50.850 --> 01:55.850 one, Bab al-Hawa in the Northwest. Today's agreement extends the status quo for six months 01:56.580 --> 02:01.580 with a six-month renewal that a senior administration official called virtually automatic. The U.N. 02:01.880 --> 02:06.220 praised the deal. And U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the unanimous 02:06.220 --> 02:08.460 vote saved lives. LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: It's 02:08.460 --> 02:13.460 a moment for millions of Syrians who will not have to worry about starving to death 02:14.849 --> 02:19.849 in the coming weeks. It's important that the United States and Russia were able to come 02:21.349 --> 02:26.349 together on a humanitarian initiative that serves the interests of the Syrian people. 02:27.540 --> 02:31.861 NICK SCHIFRIN: But humanitarian aid groups say authorizing a single aid crossing is not 02:31.861 --> 02:36.409 enough to meet the vast need, and they say Russia's blocking another proposal that would 02:36.409 --> 02:41.409 have reopened a second crossing shows disregard for Syrian lives. Today, Human Rights Watch 02:42.469 --> 02:47.090 said Russia has successfully blackmailed the international community. Amnesty International 02:47.090 --> 02:51.730 accused Russia of playing political games with the lives and welfare of millions of 02:51.730 --> 02:56.730 people. Idlib is the final stronghold of the Syrian opposition. Humanitarian workers in 02:57.050 --> 03:02.050 Syria accuse Russia and the Syrian government of using humanitarian need for political gain. 03:02.319 --> 03:05.250 SALEM AL ZOUBI, Humanitarian Worker (through translator): As aid workers, we demand the 03:05.250 --> 03:10.129 international community separate human rights work from politics, and to avoid attaching 03:10.129 --> 03:15.120 policy gains to the distribution of humanitarian aid. NICK SCHIFRIN: But Russia and the Syrian 03:15.120 --> 03:20.120 government want the aid to pass through government-controlled areas. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently 03:20.879 --> 03:24.579 blamed Syria's humanitarian crisis on the U.S. SERGEI LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister 03:24.579 --> 03:27.829 (through translator): If we're all worried about the humanitarian problems of the Syrian 03:27.829 --> 03:32.590 people, we need to look at the full range of reasons, starting with sanctions, the illegal 03:32.590 --> 03:37.489 seizure of Syrian assets in foreign banks, at the request of Washington, a total robbery. 03:37.489 --> 03:42.489 NICK SCHIFRIN: Eighty-five percent of Idlib's four million people depend on the Bab al-Hawa 03:42.719 --> 03:46.809 crossing. And now it's also COVID. This week, the World Health Organization said the U.N. 03:46.809 --> 03:51.809 is counting on the crossing to deliver more than 50,000 vaccines. Last weekend, aid organizations 03:52.830 --> 03:57.400 demonstrated at the crossing and accused the Russians of killing them through bombing and 03:57.400 --> 04:00.700 starvation. AISHA, Humanitarian Worker (through translator): This decision would subject people 04:00.700 --> 04:05.700 to another form of killing, like the bombardment we experience every day from Russia and the 04:06.359 --> 04:11.359 regime. NICK SCHIFRIN: Despite today's agreement, that bombardment is relentless. Last Saturday, 04:13.909 --> 04:18.909 Syrian government artillery and Russian airstrikes destroyed this home and an office of the Syrian 04:18.949 --> 04:23.949 humanitarian rescue group the White Helmets. The airstrikes killed at least eight civilians. 04:24.090 --> 04:29.090 Most of them were children. Just a mile from the border crossing, Syrians' families fate 04:29.620 --> 04:34.620 still rests on a vote from the same country that bombs them. For the "PBS NewsHour, " I'm 04:36.310 --> 04:37.069 Nick Schifrin.