The United Nations faces “a problem” in shipping humanitarian aid into Syria, the U.N. envoy for the war-torn country said Thursday, pinning the blame on the lack of authorization from Bashar Assad’s government that has even disappointed Russian Federation, the Syrian president’s key backer.
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Lavrov noted the “refusal by an array of illegal armed groups to join the cease-fire”, and Washington’s obligation to “separate units of the moderate opposition from terrorist groupings”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
The claims against the Assad regime followed other claims by Russia’s military that more than 60 violations by rebels have occurred since the cease-fire took effect Monday.
The U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura says “we have a problem” on getting humanitarian aid into Syria, despite the U.S. -Russia brokered deal. “These are days which we should have used for convoys to move with the permit to go because there is no fighting”, he stressed.
Meanwhile, Russia was expected to deploy its forces along Aleppo’s Castello Road to ensure safe passage for humanitarian convoys to the city’s opposition-held quarters.
The UN said 20 trucks loaded with aid had crossed into a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria, voicing hope the supplies could be delivered to besieged rebel-held districts of Aleppo city today.
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”.
It said the raids had allowed IS to advance on Syrian troops in the area.
As part of the deal, the strategic Castello Road leading into rebel-held eastern Aleppo was meant to be demilitarised for aid to enter.
Syrian state media said rebels violated the ceasefire by shelling government-held areas in the eastern Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, wounding three people.
An activist with the opposition-aligned group Aleppo Media Center said people are hopeful this initiative will work, even though past agreements – including a different ceasefire also brokered by the U.S. and Russian Federation earlier this year – have fallen apart since the conflict began in 2011.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting between government troops and rebels is concentrated in the neighborhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun, where rebels have had a presence for years.
Despite the “real reduction in violence”, continued Dekker, the United Nations has said it is “incredibly frustrated” over not being able to obtain the necessary permits from the Syrian government to let aid into Syria.
The ceasefire extension “provides us a critical window of opportunity” to assist people there, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The U.S. -led coalition has carried out thousands of airstrikes against IS in Syria and Iraq over the past two years, allowing allied forces on the ground to liberate several towns and cities from the extremist group.
The UN Special Envoy for Syria said Tuesday that a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russian Federation was largely holding, adding that more time was needed to assess the situation on the ground.
SANA says the shelling violates the cease-fire brokered by the USA and Russian Federation that went into effect Monday.
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Uncertainty prevailed on Friday over the possibility of delivering badly needed aid in Syria, as a truce brokered by the United States and Russian Federation that went into effect in the country this week was marred by further breaches.
