The UN Security Council has reauthorised cross-border deliveries of aid to rebel-held Syria for six months. Western powers bowed to a demand from Russia, a staunch ally of the Syrian government, which vetoed their proposal for a one-year extension last week. The mandate for deliveries via Turkey expired on Sunday, prompting the UN aid chief to warn that “people will die”. Some 800 lorries cross into the north-western province of Idlib every month with aid for 2.4 million civilians. Almost double that number of people, mostly women and children, are trapped in the last stronghold of the jihadist and Turkish-backed rebel groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad after 11 years of brutal conflict. An estimated 70% of the civilians already do not have enough to eat at a time when food prices are continuing to rise sharply and one in three children are undernourished, according to the UN.(BBC)…[+]