The U.N. has been pushing for a 48-hour cease-fire in beleaguered Aleppo so humanitarian aid can be shipped into the city.
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“We’re here because neither of us is satisfied with what has happened with respect to the cessation of hostilities”, Kerry said.
When Kerry launched the cooperation agreement in July while visiting Moscow, it involved Russian Federation and Washington sharing intelligence to coordinate attacks against IS (Daesh) and use Russia’s influence with President Bashar al-Assad to stop all attacks on moderate rebels.
There was hope that Friday’s talks between Kerry and Lavrov might help boost those efforts, but no specific pledges on the iconic Aleppo were made.
United Nations asked to send aid to almost 1 million people in besieged areas in August but the Syrian government approved less than half of the requests, refusing subsidies in rebel-held eastern Aleppo and several other besieged areas. “We want a pause for 48 hours”, he said. The developments include operations in and around Aleppo, the presence of Turkish ground forces in Syria fighting IS and Syrian Kurdish fighters that are backed by US.
At the same time, the Obama administration is not of one mind regarding the Russians. Recent developments include military operations around the city of Aleppo, the entry of Turkey into the ground war, Turkish hostility toward USA -backed Kurdish rebel groups and the presence of American military advisers in widening conflict zones. “We have discussed how the trucks will be sealed, how they be monitored, how we can guarantee that it is only humanitarian supplies going into these combat zones”. They say simultaneous distributions would take place in government-held west Aleppo.
Turkey has long lobbied for a “buffer zone” in northern Syria controlled by what it regards as moderate rebels, potentially in border territory now held by ISIS and stretching about 80 km (50 miles) west of Jarablus.
The second element, he said, “is to have simultaneous distributions.in western Aleppo, where needs have also increased dramatically of late”.
According to the United Nations, almost 600,000 live under siege across Syria, most surrounded by government forces, although rebels and Islamists also use the tactic. “We as one Syrian people can not accept aid at a time when global organizations can not send aid to other cities under siege”.
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The statement came amid reports that rebel forces that have occupied the Damascus suburb of Darayya for four years have agreed to leave the town in exchange for evacuation of 8,000 remaining residents.
