Syria’s government extends permission for UN to bring aid through border crossing with Turkey

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s government is giving the United Nations permission for another six months to use a major border crossing with Turkey to bring aid into the country’s rebel-held northwest. Syria’s mission to the U.N. said in a statement that permission to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing will last until mid-July. Rebel-held parts of northwest Syria are home to more than 4 million people, many of them displaced by the country’s conflict that broke out in March 2011. Living conditions in Syria are deteriorating, with more people in need especially during the harsh winter.