Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said earlier Friday that Moscow was pushing for a 72-hour extension to the current ceasefire.
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He quoted Russian observers of the ceasefire near the besieged city of Aleppo and said that the “the only party which is willing to hold talks, comply with the cease-fire and pull back the troops in order to allow United Nations humanitarian aid convoys” are the Syrian government forces.
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.
Mr Kerry told Mr Lavrov Washington expected Russian Federation “to use its influence on [President Bashar al Assad’s] regime” to allow United Nations humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need. He said the government had agreed on September 6 before the cease-fire deal was inked to allow aid into five areas, but the authorizations still haven’t come.
In Geneva, the U.N.’s envoy to Syria, Staffan De Mistura, called humanitarian access the “second dividend” of the U.S. -Russia cease-fire deal, after tapering violence.
The ceasefire extension “provides us a critical window of opportunity” to assist people there, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In addition to rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo, UN convoys with the right permits are willing to go to Moadameya, Al-Waer, Talbiseh, Douma and other besieged areas, according to Egeland.
The U.S.is “playing the role of a passive observer” and failing to exert influence on the opposition fighters, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
Vladimir Savchenko said late on Thursday the Syrian government had done so to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies into rebel-held east Aleppo.
In a statement, the Russian ministry said that US-led “moderate opposition forces” had increased the “number of attacks on residential neighborhoods”, claiming that at the end of the third day of the current cessation “only the Syrian army observes silence mode”.
Under the terms of the Russian-US agreement, the convoy needs only to notify the government; it does not need formal permission from the Syrian government.
East Aleppo, where around 250,000 civilians are besieged by government forces, is a major concern for humanitarian organizations.
The nature of the cease-fire itself is fragile, with several reported violations, and sparring between the USA and Russian Federation over the extent of their military cooperation-a precondition of the cease-fire agreement-against ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.
The aid is eagerly anticipated in Aleppo, where Assad’s forces have been trying to retake the city from rebel control for weeks.
Earnest says most indications are that violence has dropped significantly in Syria due to the new U.S. -Russia deal.
Sky’s Diplomatic Editor Dominic Waghorn said that these issues would be at the forefront of the UN General Assembly meeting next week, along with a new UN report about the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons such as chlorine gas.
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Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov accused the USA of “playing the role of a passive observer” and failing to exert its influence on the opposition fighters. “There is nothing new in Aleppo”, Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group said. Starting next Monday – if those conditions are met – the United States and Russian Federation are to begin joint coordination of airstrikes against the Islamic State and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, which are not parties to the truce. IS is not included in the U.S. -Russia-brokered truce that went into effect this week.
