Turkey has repeatedly called for a safe zone to be set up in northern Syria but the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies are wary, fearing it would require an internationally patrolled no-fly zone that could put them in direct confrontation with Assad and his allies.
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This is a bellwether moment for a deal, reached by diplomats last week in Munich, Germany, that calls on Syrian government and rebel forces to pause their fighting, in part to allow aid to reach starving citizens after five years of bloodshed. Russian Federation has made clear that it won’t sign off on any such mission and has exercised its veto to block all efforts at the Security Council to sanction Syria, a close ally in the Middle East.
The Red Crescent said trucks laden with supplies entered Moadimayet al-Sham, the first delivery of aid since world powers agreed on an ambitious plan to cease hostilities by Friday and dramatically ramp up humanitarian access.
Erdogan said Wednesday a no-fly would have prevented Russia’s air campaign in the region and thwarted thousands of civilian deaths.
GENEVA United Nations aid convoys reached five government-besieged towns in Syria on Wednesday, bringing food, water, and medicines including vaccines to almost 100,000 people, a statement said.
“Everything depends on the Americans, on whether they will be ready to cooperate on a military level”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to Reuters. At least 16 trucks were parked on the side of the highway at the entrance to Damascus, waiting to leave for the besieged rebel-held towns of Madaya, Zabadani and Moadamiyeh near the capital.
“We will not allow a new Qandil on our southern border”, Erdogan said in a televised speech, referring to the mountain range in northern Iraq which for years has been stronghold of PKK militants.
Gatilov also shrugged off German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s proposal to consider a no-fly zone over Syria, saying it can only be done with Damascus’ consent.
Syrians living in bombed out, isolated towns are finally receiving the aid humanitarian groups working on the ground have demanded for more than a month, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.
Convoys will also be sent to the Damascus suburbs of Moadamiyah and Kafr Batna in Ghouta, also besieged by the regime, and United Nations officials will meet today to decide whether to airdrop supplies into Deir ez-Zor, besieged by ISIS.
The convoys represent the third aid delivery to the blockaded communities after two other efforts last month.
Muadhamiya has been under control of Islamist rebel forces who have sworn to remove Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
“If we were able to reach an agreement between anti- and pro-Assad forces on a kind of no-fly zone … then this would save many lives and aid the political process about Syria’s future”, she told the German parliament.
The operation proceeded nonetheless, with over a 100 trucks heading to besieged areas Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said Turkey wanted to create a 10-kilometre (six-mile) “safe line” inside Syria that would include the flashpoint town of Azaz near the border.
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The U.N. estimates that 18 Syrian communities are besieged, affecting around half a million people. “We don’t wait for anyone to remind us of our duties towards our people”, it added.
