Yacoub el-Hillo, U.N. humanitarian and resident coordinator in Syria, said aid operations must continue beyond recent efforts to restart peace talks, but a solution to the root of the problem must also be found. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov shrugged off Merkel’s proposal, saying it would require Damascus’ consent and U.N. Security Council approval.
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The violence in Aleppo, which has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing toward the border, led to the collapse of indirect talks between the Syrian government and its opponents earlier this month.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, February 17, described the humanitarian situation in Syria as “intolerable” and reiterated her call for a no-fly zone to protect civilians.
Those pushing for a no-fly zone want to create a haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and help stem the flow of refugees to Europe. But Washington has long rejected the idea, fearing it would draw US forces further into the civil war.
Merkel expressed support for the idea on Tuesday, and repeated it again on Wednesday at parliament.
At a news conference, she said such an agreement would be “a sign of good will” and would put many people at ease.
Enforcing a no-fly zone has become considerably more hard since Moscow began its air campaign in Syria on September 30.
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A German Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters Wednesday that Merkel’s suggestion came in the context of what was agreed upon in Munich, that a humanitarian corridor should be established to deliver aid to Syrian civilians, and hostilities should cease, hopefully in the next day or two.
Egeland said that there was plan to deliver aid to the eastern city Deir Ezzor, the majority of which is controlled by the Islamic State group (IS) and where an estimated 200,000 people still live.
“It’s important that the Syrian government has officially declared that it would provide access to seven besieged cities”, Gatilov said, according to Interfax. That was in line with an agreement on humanitarian assistance reached in Munich last week by major and regional powers. “And we should be able to do (so) before the next meeting which will be in a week”, Egeland said.
The UN spokesman said more convoys to the same towns as well as to other besieged areas are planned in the coming days.
A toddler is held up to the camera in this still image taken from video said to be shot in Madaya, Jan. 5, 2016.
A humanitarian task force will meet in Geneva on Thursday to take stock of access to besieged areas, a statement from the office of the special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said.
“We discussed the next phase which is to reach all of the remaining besieged areas of Syria”.
More than 100 trucks delivering food, medicine and other assistance reached the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani, northwest of the capital, while a 35-truck convoy was to deliver aid to the rebel-held suburb of Moadamiyeh southwest of Damascus.
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There have been several aid deliveries to Madaya and Zabadani and to al-Foua and Kefraya this year, but each has to be carefully synchronized between the warring sides so that convoys enter simultaneously.
