“I’m hopeful but I’m very realistic about what is before us”, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said Wednesday at a conference in Washington hosted by the Institute for the Study of War.
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The agreement is also to allow for humanitarian aid to reach besieged areas, with the rebel-held part of the northern city of Aleppo as a priority.
Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy, said there were 20 aid trucks ready to cross the border from Turkey into Syria, and make it to Aleppo city where a cessation of hostilities was holding “by and large”.
He said the government had agreed on September 6 – before the cease-fire deal was signed – to allow aid into five areas, but the authorsation has not come. The U.S. and European Union jointly imposed sanctions on Russian Federation, both for its annexation of Crimea and its surreptitious invasion of Ukraine.
“We also note that some groups controlled by the United States, such as Ahrar al-Sham, have openly stated their unwillingness to cease fire”, Poznikhir said.
“It is particularly regrettable”.
Russian Federation is in favor of extending by 48 hours the cease-fire that went into effect on Monday between the fighting forces in Syria. If and when it does could provide the first important test of whether President Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies are serious about sticking to the agreement reached in Geneva last week or whether they are simply buying time ahead of a planned resumption of the fighting.
The denunciation of the deal came as activists and state media said the truce, which took effect at sunset Monday, was holding despite some violations.
Russia, said on Wednesday it was preparing for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to begin a staged withdrawal from the Castello road.
The Russian defence ministry insisted that, from the very beginning of the truce, Moscow had been fulfilling its obligations, which includes ensuring that the Syrian air force does not bomb areas held by mainstream rebel forces and setting up checkpoints in divided second city of Aleppo. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that no deaths resulting from violence had been reported during the first 48 hours of the ceasefire.
Mayadeen is in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, near the Iraqi border. Under the agreement, all fighting between Syrian government forces and the rebels named in the accord must cease.
In the embattled city of Aleppo, de Mistura said people on the ground say “the situation has “dramatically improved” with no airstrikes”.
“To be effective in any multinational operation, one has to have common goals and objectives”, said David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general.
“Can well-fed grown men please stop putting political, bureaucratic and procedural roadblocks for courageous humanitarian workers that are willing to go to serve women, children, wounded civilians in besieged and crossfire areas?” he asked.
The aid, comprising 25 tons of flour, rice and pasta organised by the youth wing of Turkey’s ruling AKP party arrived on Wednesday, the third day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
Over 2,000 people were killed in 40 days of fighting in Aleppo until the cease-fire went into effect Monday.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Observatory estimates 301,781 people have been killed.
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“People are anxiously waiting for food and medical aid to enter Aleppo”, Omar al Arab, an activist based in eastern Aleppo told dpa. “I believe they want to obstruct the main demand of the Syrian state and leadership, and of Russian Federation – the separation of Nusra from the rest of the organisations, and it appears that this will not happen”, the source said.
