Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused the United States Thursday of failing to meet its obligations under the truce deal.
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The cease-fire that went into effect Monday is part of a U.S. -Russia agreement that also calls for allowing humanitarian aid to reach besieged areas in Aleppo.
The reason for the hold-up appeared to be the continuing presence of some troops from both the Syrian government and the rebel side on the Castello road, a key thoroughfare leading from the besieged city of Aleppo to the border with Turkey, where a convoy of lorries loaded with vital supplies were waiting to cross over into Syria.
Mediator Staffan de Mistura told journalists in Geneva the aid had not been delivered because Assad’s government had not issued the authorisation letters that aid convoys need to pass through checkpoints.
Getting humanitarian aid into besieged parts of the country was one of the agreements reached in the USA and Russia-brokered ceasefire that began on Monday.
“It’s particularly regrettable because we are losing time”, de Mistura said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had earlier called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and condemned “repeated and unacceptable delays of humanitarian aid”, spokesman John Kirby said.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the ceasefire was “by and large” holding steady despite complaints of violations, but urged the United States to do more to influence the rebel groups it supports in Syria.
Russia’s military announced Thursday evening that Syrian government forces had begun withdrawing from Castello road but didn’t confirm if Russian troops would be stationed there.
Aleppo has been the centre of fighting over past months and Syrian government forces and their allies launched a wide offensive earlier this month, capturing several areas south of the city and putting eastern rebel-held areas under siege.
The Russian defence ministry also said it was ready to extend the truce by an additional 72 hours despite infractions on the rebel side.
The lack of permission was “a very major disappointment” even for Syria’s ally Russia, Mr de Mistura said.
However, civilians were reported killed on Thursday, while on Friday three more are said to have died in air strikes in Idlib province.
Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador, said there were discussions at the United Nations on the proposed resolution that could be adopted on Wednesday when the Security Council holds a special meeting on Syria.
Syrian state television said the government forces had foiled a rebel attack.
Russian ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin said there was no point in briefing the council if the USA did not want to say exactly what was in the deal.
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“This briefing is not going to happen and mostly likely we’re not going to have a resolution of the Security Council because the USA does not want to share those documents with the members of the Security Council and we believe that we can not ask them to support a document which they haven’t seen”, Churkin said. Among them, 160 were children, according to estimates by the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a London-based watchdog group. It wasn’t known who carried out the attack.
