The United States and Russian Federation have said that Syrian peace deal should be extended by 48 hours as aid convoys meant to reach besieged populations in the opposition-held parts of northern city of Aleppo remain stalled along the Turkish border.
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Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office, said the aid convoys were awaiting assurances of safety in Syria’s volatile northwest.
Once the joint Russian-US targeting begins, however, government warplanes will be barred from areas where either Fateh al-Sham or opposition forces are present.
The opposition has yet to officially sign on, and hours before the ceasefire began Assad said he was committed to recovering all of Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said the fighting was actually in Jobar, to the south of Qaboun.
But there were growing accusations of violations by each side, with a Syrian military source saying the rebels were responsible for dozens of breaches including gun, rocket and mortar fire in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Latakia.
In a telephone call to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov the USA secretary of state John Kerry made it plain that America would not conduct joint operations with Russia against ISIL and other extremists unless the Syrian regime allowed humanitarian aid into the cities suffering under long-term siege.
A senior Russian diplomat says that Syria peace talks could resume as early as later this month.
Sustained delivery of humanitarian aid, along with a decrease in violence, is a requirement for that cooperation under an agreement Kerry and Lavrov reached last week.
At a recent press briefing, Toner said that both regime forces and armed opposition groups had violated the cease-fire, calling on Moscow to use its influence with regime leader Bashar al-Assad to ensure the access of humanitarian aid to besieged parts of the country.
The US says it is inadvisable to release the wording, but the French government argues it would be impossible for the United Nations security council to endorse the deal without knowing its details.
The council was to hold closed consultations later Friday.
Russian Federation is a key ally of the Assad regime and is pushing for the UN Security Council to endorse the agreement, but France and other council members have stated that they first need to learn more details about the deal.
The cease-fire that went into effect Monday is part of a U.S. -Russia agreement that also calls for allowing humanitarian aid to reach besieged areas in Aleppo.
Earlier Friday, a Syrian opposition monitoring group reported that Russian troops deployed along the Castello Road, which would mark the most overt participation of its ground forces in the Syrian war and underline Moscow’s role as a major power broker.
Rebel groups fight alongside al-Qaida-linked militants against Assad’s forces, as the extremists are among the most potent fighting forces in the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said it counted 45 ceasefire violations on Thursday alone.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has warned that the aid could not move into Syria’s second city before the Castello Road supply route had been fully secured.
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Syria is in desperate need of aid, particularly in Aleppo where the fighting has been the most intense.
