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Russian Federation acuses U.S. for defending IS, calls urgent UNSC meeting

The council will hold closed consultations later on Friday.

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The government and rebels have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, although the U.S. State Department said on Thursday it was largely holding and that both Washington and Moscow believed it was worth continuing.

Kerry “emphasized that the United States expects Russian Federation to use its influence on the Assad regime to allow UN humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said what was agreed last week in Geneva, including a Joint Implementation Centre, “won’t happen” unless Russian Federation exercises its influence over Syria.

On behalf of the United States mission, a spokesperson said that they are focused on the implementation of the agreement brokered by Washington and Moscow, especially the humanitarian aid to reach those in need.

The truce was billed as the “last chance” to end the five-year war but it has been marred by a lack of aid deliveries, sporadic violence and friction between two sides.

Under the truce deal, Moscow must put pressure on Assad and Washington must work with Syrian rebels to silence their guns.

The ministry’s website said the footage would “provide transparency of ceasefire regime implementation in the Syrian Arab Republic by the sides”.

Russian Federation complained earlier on Friday that only its ally, the Assad regime, was respecting the ceasefire but they also suggested it be extended by a further 72 hours.

In a video call from Castello Road, Russian Col. Sergei Kapitsyn said the rebels fired on government positions overnight, wounding two Syrian soldiers and prompting the Syrian army to move their weapons back to the road to prevent the rebels from advancing.

The Observatory also said Syrian forces, which had been stationed along a road leading into Aleppo, had been replaced by Russian troops.

Members of the UN Security Council have said they need more details about the deal before deciding whether to endorse it.

The Pentagon said that coalition forces “would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit”.

Russian Federation said Syrian government troops had begun to withdraw from Castello Road on the outskirts of Aleppo – the route through which the trucks will pass – on Thursday but this has not been independently confirmed.

Syria’s army has been fighting off a fierce offensive by the Islamic State jihadist group on the Deir Ezzor military airport since previous year.

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.

Russian Federation on Friday said that only its ally, the Assad government, is respecting the ceasefire, but nevertheless suggested that the truce be prolonged by a further 72 hours.

In response, the rebels launched a major offensive in Aleppo in August and captured the al-Ramouseh road, the only supply route for the government-controlled western areas of Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 83 soldiers were killed in the raids on Jabal Therdeh, southwest of the Deir Ezzor airport, updating an earlier toll of 30 killed.

The other truck will deliver food rations for 35,000 people on the next day.

A spokesman from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, saidofficials were waiting for assurances that it was safe enough to enter eastern Aleppo.

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Military Media, the media arm of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah, said demonstrators from the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahraa in Aleppo province have started a march toward Castello road to demand that no aid be allowed into eastern Aleppo until aid is sent to two Shiite villages besieged by insurgents in the nearby province of Idlib.

Smoke rises over a damaged site as Civil Defence members try to put out a fire after an airstrike on al Jalaa street in the rebel held city of Idlib