Share

Aid convoys still stuck as fighting shakes Syria truce

Russian Federation has accused US-backed Syrian rebels of failing to hold their end of the bargain in a ceasefire which only began four days ago.

Advertisement

Earlier the Syrian army moved its heavy weapons back to a key road near the city of Aleppo after the opposition failed to withdraw theirs in sync.

Under the ceasefire agreement, the U.S. and Russian Federation would work together to target the Fatah al-Sham Front, as well as IS, while Mr Assad’s forces refrain from striking opposition-held areas.

Under the terms of the deal, if the peace holds for seven days, Russian Federation and the United States will establish a Joint Implementation Center – which will be located in Geneva – for cooperation on military operations in Syria targeting terror groups.

The UN had hoped that 40 trucks of food – enough to feed 80,000 people for one month – could be delivered to besieged rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo as soon as possible. He says aid is expected to enter rebel-held Aleppo later Friday. Russian Federation intervened with its air force on the side of President Bashar al-Assad’s government past year, turning the tide of the war in his favor.

Activists reported the cease-fire was holding despite some violations, though the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group warned the rate of violations had escalated and three civilians were killed, including two children. However, aid convoys have been unable to enter rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo – a key component of the deal.

Humanitarian aid is due to be delivered to Aleppo on Friday following a withdrawal of combatants from a contested road leading to the city on Thursday, a Syrian rebel official said.

Aid deliveries are part of a U.S. -Russia deal that imposed the cease-fire.

Syrian state television said the government forces had foiled a rebel attack.

It added that “coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit”.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s special envoy to Syria, said earlier that he had not yet had “facilitation letters” from the Syrian government that would allow the convoy to pass through army checkpoints.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said opposition fighters opened fire at a location along the Castello Road that was being prepared for Red Crescent representatives, and two people guarding the area were wounded.

BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations faces “a problem” in shipping humanitarian aid into Syria, the U.N. envoy for Syria said Thursday, pinning the blame squarely on a lack of authorizations from Bashar Assad’s government that has even disappointed the Syrian president’s key backer: Russian Federation.

But Washington has warned Russian Federation that unless aid is delivered to Aleppo, it will not move ahead with the formation of the joint coordination centre.

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.

USA officials said their forces had hit Islamic State, or ISIL, forces in the same area in the past and had been tracking them for a significant amount of time before the latest strike.

But as well as a reduction in violence the U.S. also demanded that supplies be allowed to reach areas under siege across the country and especially in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.

Both ISIL and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group formerly known as al-Nusra Front, are excluded from the ceasefire.

Advertisement

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.

Syria ceasefire deal in balance as Aleppo aid plan stalls