He said the Syrian government had not provided the necessary “facilitation letters”, or permits, to allow the aid convoys to reach opposition areas, disappointing even Russian Federation, the Syrian president’s key backer.
Advertisement
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Thursday that the UN Security Council could adopt a resolution backing the agreement during a high-level meeting on Syria to be held on Wednesday.
Maj. -Gen. Igor Konashenkov, in a statement issued on Friday, cast doubt on the rebels’ “ability to comply” with a U.S. -Russia-brokered cease-fire, which came into effect earlier this week. Russian and Syrian government flags were visible in the distance on the route.
It was not immediately clear when the aid convoy would enter besieged rebel-held neighborhoods east of Aleppo.
Russian Federation has “decisions to make about the influence that they have on Assad and the degree to which they’re going to use it or not”, Kirby said.
The United Nations has described the ceasefire as a “critical window of opportunity” to deliver aid to opposition-held eastern districts of Aleppo city, where around 250,000 civilians are besieged by Assad forces.
Syrian state news agency SANA said insurgents shelled government-held areas in Qaboun, wounding three people.
Two aid convoys destined for Aleppo were still stuck on the Turkish border after several days while the sides argued over how the supplies were to be delivered.
He said: “This UN report is the most damning so far because it not only confirms these claims, using western intelligence and other sources, but it specifies the military units the Syrian regime is using to carry out these attacks”.
Contrary to the rest of Syria, aid convoys will not need government pre-approval for accessing the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.
“I don’t really understand why we have to keep such an agreement closed”, Putin said.
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. “There are wounded people and others who need food”, Mr.al-Halaby said.
“As of Saturday morning, there has been no [delivery] progress”, said David Swanson, an official at the UN’s regional humanitarian affairs office for the Syria crisis.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting between government troops and rebels is concentrated in the neighbourhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun, where rebels have had a presence for years.
The powerful Nour el-Din el-Zinki opposition group said that government forces were still on the road, according to the Associated Press. He says Assad’s government is the chief obstacle to increasing access to aid.
The aid impasse came as Russian Federation put pressure on the United States to release the text of the agreement, and urged the U.S. to allow it to form the basis of a UN security council resolution next week.
Assad has been accused of war crimes in the civil war and his opponents inside and outside the country have insisted that his departure is a prerequisite for a peace settlement.
Activists say Syria’s cease-fire is still holding despite some violations but aid has not yet reached besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo.
The Observatory said three rebel fighters and four members of the government forces were killed.
Advertisement
“As a result, with nightfall approaching, the weapons and military hardware withdrawn by government troops were returned to their previous positions”. The Pentagon said it had no indication of a withdrawal.
