It was not immediately clear when the aid convoy would enter besieged rebel-held neighborhoods east of Aleppo.
Advertisement
A U.S. -Russia-brokered cease-fire in Syria that began on Monday is meant to help stage the ground for peace talks to end Syria’s devastating civil war, now in its sixth year.
Gatilov’s remarks were reported on Thursday by the Interfax news agency.
Washington hopes the agreement will lead to peace talks, and if all goes as planned, coordinated strikes against Islamic State and the Nusra Front are due to start.
He also expressed concern that groups belonging to the moderate opposition fighting the regime could be targeted in areas where jihadists are operating.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident, but it acknowledged that US special operations forces are accompanying Turkish and Syrian opposition forces battling Islamic State in and around the area of the Syrian border near Jarabulus and al-Rai. Nour el-Din el-Zinki group said in statement that their observation posts in the area have confirmed that government forces are still on the road.
In a Friday phone call, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow must use its influence with the Syrian government to get the aid moving, adding that delays in the assistance had been “repeated” and “unacceptable”.
He urged the U.S. to compel 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. “The president has no doubt that will happen”, he said.
With the U.S. -Russian brokered cease-fire for the war-torn country holding for its third straight day, calls intensified to have the government permit aid access to besieged opposition areas.
The ceasefire extension “provides us a critical window of opportunity to assist the people in need in east Aleppo”, said a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, David Swanson. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Laerke said the trucks are in a “special customs zone” on the Turkish border.
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”. The report said two people guarding the location were wounded.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow is using its influence on the Syrian government to make sure the ongoing cease-fire holds and wants the United States to do the same with regards to opposition groups.
Staffan de Mistura, the UN Syria envoy, stated that the United States and Russian Federation were charged with the responsibility for managing the disengagement of forces from the road, though he also gives blame to Damascus for not securing permits needed to make aid deliveries to other areas.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, says Thursday’s airstrike killed seven people.
Mazen al-Shami, an opposition activist near Damascus, says government forces tried to storm Jobar but were repelled by opposition fighters.
The extremists of Islamic State and al-Qaida aren’t included; nobody expected them to cooperate.
As part of the agreement reached between the United States and Russian Federation regarding the ceasefire in Syria, UN trucks carrying humanitarian aid were scheduled to arrive in Aleppo as early as tomorrow.
De Mistura said 40 aid trucks were ready to move and the United Nations would prioritize delivery to the embattled rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo.
In addition to eastern Aleppo, UN convoys, if they receive permits, are ready to go to places like Moadameya, to Al-Waer, to Talbiseh to Douma, to all of the besieged areas close to Damascus, close to Homs, and elsewhere, he explained.
Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby denies that government troops withdrew from Castello road.
Advertisement
The Syrian army started withdrawing from the strategic Castello highway in the northern province of Aleppo on Thursday, a military source told Xinhua.
