Jan Egeland, a top United Nations coordinator for aid to Syria, said in a text message that the U.N.is waiting for assurances on “monitoring arrangements”.
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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces and opposition fighters were ready to withdraw from the Castello road, a main artery into Aleppo, to hand it over to Russian troops.
Under the deal, the United States and Russian Federation will set up a joint implementation centre to cooperate in the targeting of rebels considered “terrorist” by both sides.
“It’s crucially important (that) the necessary security arrangements should be given so that they can be allowed to cross the lines”, he said.
But insurgent groups in Aleppo say they have not seen any pull out, while the U.S. says the situation is unclear. However, the truce, which began on September 12, has achieved nearly nothing in terms of aid delivery as hundreds of thousands in cities such as Aleppo have been affected by weeks of fierce fighting and are desperately in need of aid. The eastern neighborhoods, where some 250,000 people live, have been under government siege for most of the past two months. Outrageously, it has also hindered aid by removing lifesaving items from convoys like antibiotics and other critical medical supplies.
The UN says Syria has to issue a letter authorizing aid delivery to Aleppo. “I want them to allow in vegetables and fuel”, said 30-year-old Mustafa Morjan, in the Al-Zabdiya neighbourhood.
The UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday hailed the truce for bringing about “a significant drop in violence” despite isolated incidents. It also said three shells were fired at the government-held southern village of Hadar.
“The truce is good, but it’s not enough”. We’re certainly aware that not all of the terms here, including most specifically the delivery of humanitarian assistance, have been met at this particular moment in time.
Toner said that the US administration is doing its best to answer questions from partners and the media with respect to the deal.
Only hours before the expiry of the first 48-hour period, Russian Federation appealed for it to be extended.
“There’s an impression that the goal of Washington’s “curtain of words” is an intention to hide the fact that it is not fulfilling its obligations, above all the separation of units of the “moderate opposition” from the terrorists”, Konashenkov said.
Poznikhir also said that Russian Federation had on Tuesday bombed the area north of the historic city of Palmyra, “where IS militants are concentrated”, in the first such strikes since the truce came into force. The dueling statements both blamed the other side, while the State Department conceded there had been unspecified “violations” on both sides.
“If things continue on this path it will be a positive development in protecting Syrian civilians from killing, fighting and displacement”.
There remains deep scepticism about whether the truce will hold.
Toner also announced Wednesday that John Kerry, the American secretary of state, and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, agreed to extend the seven-day ceasefire for an additional 48 hours, with the goal of establishing a Joint Implementation Center to coordinate intelligence and airstrikes against agreed upon targets.
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Earlier on Wednesday Interfax news agency quoted Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir from a press conference saying the ceasefire had been violated 60 times in the first 48 hours, with most violations committed by the Ahrar al-Sham armed group.
