Kerry told Lavrov Washington “expects Russian Federation to use its influence on the (President Bashar al-) Assad regime to allow United Nations humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”.
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Aid deliveries are part of a U.S. -Russia deal that imposed a cease-fire, which started Monday.
United States admits coalition air strike against Syrian military position was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 18, 2016 and was last updated on September 18, 2016.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said if the coalition bombing was a mistake, it was evidence of Washington’s “stubborn refusal” to co-ordinate its actions with Russia’s government.
Three more died and 13 were injured in air strikes in rebel-held Idlib province on Friday, the Observatory said.
IS has repeatedly attacked the government-held air base, which is an isolated enclave deep in extremist-held territory. He said the Syrian army has fully complied with the truce that went into force Monday, while the opposition units have violated it 144 times since then. An IS advance in Deir el-Zour would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of civilians living in government-held areas.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Syrian government forces that were stationed there have been replaced by Russian troops.
The president’s statement came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Washington will not agree to begin joint targeting of Islamic militants in Syria, as called for after seven days of cease-fire under the deal, until Syria permits the aid to flow.
“The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned”, the U.S Central Command statement said.
But Turkey views them as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the U.S.
The UN has described the truce as a “critical window of opportunity” to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo city, where around 250,000 civilians are under siege.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is using its influence on the Syrian government to make sure the ongoing cease-fire holds and wants the United States to do the same with regards to opposition groups.
Russian Federation has accused Washington of failing to rein in the rebels, and on Saturday Putin asked why the United States has insisted on not releasing a written copy of the agreement.
“In my opinion, this comes from the desire to keep the combat potential in fighting the legitimate government of Bashar Assad”.
He appeared to be referring to the Fatah al-Sham Front, an al-Qaida-linked group previously known as the Nusra Front, which is deeply embedded in rebel-held areas and fights alongside more moderate groups. Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the group, condemned the cease-fire agreement in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV aired Saturday.
Following the increasingly public divide between the U.S State Secretary John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter over the Syria agreement between Russian Federation and the U.S., President Barack Obama gathered top national security aids on Friday including his secretaries of state and defense – with the shaky ceasefire set to dominate a meeting ostensibly about countering DAESH.
Viktor Poznikhir, the first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff’s operations directorate, said that Syrian troops returned their tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery to their original positions because they were being shelled by opposition groups. That cease-fire calls on the Syrian regime to cease all airstrikes over USA -backed opposition forces and limits it to striking ISIS targets.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says Lavrov told Kerry that Russia has coordinated the aid delivery with Syrian government forces and called on Washington to exercise similar influence with Syrian rebels.
Separately footage has emerged of Free Syrian Army rebels expelling USA special forces from the town of Al-Rai in northern Syria, calling them “infidels” in Arabic.
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But the government has yet to deliver letters guaranteeing aid workers access to Aleppo to hand out food and supplies.
