U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the message in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during which he emphasized that Washington expects Moscow to use its influence on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “to allow United Nations humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said his country would like to publish details of the cease-fire deal he hammered out with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister last week.
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.
The ceasefire has been marred by a lack of humanitarian aid deliveries, sporadic violence, including 3 civilians killed Friday, and increasing friction between Moscow and Washington.
If the truce, which began Monday, September 12, lasts 7 days and humanitarian access is granted, Russian Federation and the USA are to work together to target jihadists including the Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
The two countries back opposite sides in the conflict, with Moscow supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the United States behind a coalition of rebel groups.
Earlier on Friday, Russia said that only Moscow and the Syrian government were fulfilling the deal.
In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said the aircraft that carried out the bombings – two F-16 jet fighters and two A-10 support aircraft – had entered Syrian airspace from Iraqi territory.
The Russian military said 62 Syrian soldiers were killed near Deir Ezzor Airport, according to state-run Sputnik News Agency.
The Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the U.S. does not want to share documents or further information with the Council, and stressed that there is no point of the briefing if no enough information si provided.
Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the United Nations, said US forces halted the attack when informed by Russian Federation it was possible they were striking Syrian regime personnel and vehicles.
Under the truce, fighting is to halt across the country except where jihadists are present.
Experts say the deal will be particularly hard to implement in areas where Jabhat Fateh al-Sham has formed strong alliances with other rebel groups.
Meanwhile, hours-long fighting and shelling that erupted in neighborhoods on the edges of Damascus on Friday were the heaviest in the Syrian capital in weeks, according to activists and residents.
The US military said it halted an air raid against Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria after being told by Russian Federation that it might have struck Syrian government forces.
Three civilians were killed in strikes by unidentified warplanes in rebel-held Idlib province in north-western Syria, the monitoring group added.
The UN has called the truce a “critical window of opportunity” to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo city, where around 300,000 civilians are under siege.
But on Friday, the trucks were still waiting at the border with Turkey, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Humanitarian aid could arrive in rebel-held parts of Aleppo later Friday, but other obstacles remain, the group said.
It had been hoped that by the time the general assembly met, aid would be flowing into Syria, the ceasefire deepening, and a new era of Russian-American military co-operation possibly under way with the two sides jointly staging air strikes against the Islamic State terror group and other targets.
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“As humanitarians this is immensely frustrating”.
