Mr de Mistura said a US-Russia brokered cease-fire deal agreed last week has largely reduced the violence since it came into effect on Monday, but the humanitarian aid flows that were expected to follow have not materialised.
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Demilitarization of Castello Road is key to allowing further humanitarian access, US officials have said. If calm holds for seven days, the US and Russian Federation would then set up a new co-operation centre that would jointly develop strategies to combat Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
Despite the fresh spat, the United Nation’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the reduction in violence since the ceasefire took hold had been “substantial”.
The United States and Russian Federation have agreed to extend the current cease-fire in the Syria conflict by 48 hours, while much-needed aid continues to remain undistributed.
De Mistura said a contested highway into eastern Aleppo, Castello Road, had “special status” under the ceasefire agreement, meaning its use would need to be negotiated separately for the delivery of aid.
About 300,000 people are thought to be living in eastern Aleppo, while more than one million live in the government-controlled western half of the city.
An official in an Aleppo-based Syrian rebel group said global parties had told him aid was now due to be delivered on Friday. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops.
Opposition sources said Thursday that the exit of the trucks from the buffer zone could be delayed as neither Damascus nor Russian Federation had made any announcement about the withdrawal of troops from the road linking the border area to eastern Aleppo. “There is no withdrawal by the regime from the Castello Road”, Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters.
In the clip, the ‘ truce-monitoring soldiers ‘ can be seen grabbing each other’s arms and kneeling down in the soil as the sound of gun fire blasts around them.
Churkin said the resolution would provide “endorsement of the agreement” reached last week that allowed a ceasefire to go into effect on Monday, paving the way to aid deliveries and a possible resumption of peace talks.
Egeland said the aid is ready to move just as soon as approval is given.
De Mistura said some people had used the argument that offices were closed during this week’s Muslim Eid holiday, and the Syrian government had been “a little bit slow” during Eid, but he would not accept that as a valid reason. The two convoys were carrying enough food for 80,000 people for a month, he said. Russia’s foreign ministry is pushing to release it, with Mr. Lavrov telling reporters on Tuesday that Moscow wants the deal to be made public but that the USA opposes such a move.
The US, Moscow also added, had not yet compelled rebels to separate themselves on the ground from allied fighters from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a jihadist group known as al-Nusra Front until it formally broke off ties with al-Qaeda in July.
He added that Russian Federation needed to use its influence over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to ensure that humanitarian aid was delivered to besieged communities under the agreement.
It comes as both sides in the conflict accuse each other of violating a truce deal brokered by the United States and Russian Federation last week, which calls for a nationwide ceasefire and safe passage for aid deliveries.
Rebels say Damascus has carried out numerous violations.
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Under the terms of the plan, talks will take place between a number of Syria’s principal protagonists to discuss the country’s political transition, including the potential stepping aside of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.
