The discussion comes as Syria is entering its fifth day of a U.S. -Russia brokered ceasefire, which has largely held.
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As Human Rights Watch has documented, this is not the first time the Syrian government has blocked aid from getting to besieged areas.
Russian Federation on Friday said the Syrian army had initially withdrawn but returned to its positions after being fired on by rebels, who in turn say they saw no sign of government forces ever leaving their positions.
The Saudi-backed Ahrar al-Sham terrorist group and more than a dozen other extremist outfits, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA) alliance and the so-called Jaish al-Islam, have rejected the ceasefire, alleging that the measure would only “reinforce” the Syrian government.
The Russian military said it has complained to the U.S.at a joint working group in Geneva about the opposition’s failure to pull back in sync with the Syrian army, but received no immediate response.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman says 62 Syrian soldiers have been reported killed in a US -led coalition airstrike on a military base.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who personally hammered out the agreement despite scepticism among some USA administration colleagues, told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Washington would not start the agreed joint targeting of militants until aid begins to flow.
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.
But convoys still haven’t been able to get humanitarian aid to those in need, and such delivery is an important way to judge if a ceasefire is successful.
The cease-fire is meant to help set the state for peace talks to end Syria’s civil war, now in its sixth year.
Russian Federation said, though, that it was ready to extend the truce, which is due to expire late on Friday, by 72 hours.
The accord has been 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 Moscow and Washington.
A Syrian government soldier and unidentified people walk in the damaged Khan al-Wazir market in the government-held side of Aleppo’s historic city centre on September 16, 2016.
The US says it is inadvisable to release the wording, but the French government argues it would be impossible for the United Nations security council to endorse the deal without knowing its details.
Russian Federation is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Nour el-Din el-Zinki group says in statement Friday that their observation posts in the area are confirming that government forces are still on the Castello road.
At the same time, the deputy chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, Sergey Kapitsyn, said that radar images and visual observation also show that opposition groups did not withdraw from the road.
Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby said humanitarian conditions in the eastern neighborhoods of Syria’s largest city are deteriorating.
The leader of an al-Qaida-linked insurgent group in Syria has condemned a USA and Russian-brokered cease-fire, saying it places Washington on the side of President Bashar Assad and against the Syrian people.
Government-held areas were shelled in the north-eastern Damascus neighbourhood of Qaboun, wounding three people, Syrian state media said. All three were in rebel-held areas: two were children, and two killed by government sniper fire, the group said.
Opposition activists said government forces tried to storm Jobar, northeast of the capital, but were repelled by opposition fighters.
Outside the scope of the truce, the United States is leading an worldwide bombing campaign against Islamic State (IS) group fighters who control territory in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
SANA accused the insurgents of launching the attack, triggering retaliation by government forces.
The truce went into effect earlier this week in Syria and has been mostly holding across the war-torn country despite minor violations.
During the call, Kerry said the United States expects Russian Federation to use its influence on Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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The Syrian government says insurgents have been firing on routes leading into the northern city of Aleppo, endangering United Nations efforts to deliver aid to besieged, rebel-held neighborhoods.
