-
Tips for becoming a good boxer - November 6, 2020
-
7 expert tips for making your hens night a memorable one - November 6, 2020
-
5 reasons to host your Christmas party on a cruise boat - November 6, 2020
-
What to do when you’re charged with a crime - November 6, 2020
-
Should you get one or multiple dogs? Here’s all you need to know - November 3, 2020
-
A Guide: How to Build Your Very Own Magic Mirror - February 14, 2019
-
Our Top Inspirational Baseball Stars - November 24, 2018
-
Five Tech Tools That Will Help You Turn Your Blog into a Business - November 24, 2018
-
How to Indulge on Vacation without Expanding Your Waist - November 9, 2018
-
5 Strategies for Businesses to Appeal to Today’s Increasingly Mobile-Crazed Customers - November 9, 2018
Despite cease-fire, fighting erupts in Syrian capital
The council is set to hold closed consultations later on Friday.
Advertisement
The details of a US-Russian deal on Syria, which came into effect on Monday, will be the focus of an urgently called UN Security Council meeting on Friday, diplomats said.
The ceasefire has been marred by a lack of humanitarian aid deliveries, sporadic violence, including 3 civilians killed Friday, and increasing friction between Moscow and Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the talks in Geneva agreed a package of documents created to consolidate the ceasefire in Syria and lay the foundation for resuming the political process.
Mr Kerry “emphasized that the United States expects Russian Federation to use its influence on the Assad regime to allow UN humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”, state department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
In congressional testimony, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford has identified Russian Federation as the main “existential” threat to the U.S. However, Cook said Carter “absolutely supports Secretary Kerry’s efforts”.
The lack of progress on aid, almost a week after the ceasefire agreement was sealed between Russian Federation and the USA in Geneva, is putting the deal under pressure, with more reports of clashes, some inside the ceasefire area.
A building belonging to the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue organisation also known as the “White Helmets” was also hit in overnight air strikes.
Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said Tuesday night that there was a “need of assurances that the drivers and the convoys will be unhindered and untouched”.
Lavrov expressed concern at rebel violations and urged Kerry to ensure the USA meets its pledge to make insurgents cut ties with al-Qaeda fighters, according to the statement.
ISIL is another acronym for the ISIS group.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir of the Russian military’s General Staff declared readiness to extend the US-Russia-brokered cease-fire for another 72 hours, adding that Moscow expects Washington to take “resolute action” to end violations by the US-backed opposition units.
Kerry said Monday that the plan was “designed to advance the process of trying to reduce the violence so that we can get people to a table” and “begin to negotiate a political transition and the restoration of a peaceful and united Syria”.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident, but it acknowledged that USA special operations forces are accompanying Turkish and Syrian opposition forces battling Islamic State in and around the area of the Syrian border near Jarabulus and al-Rai.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting between government troops and rebels is concentrated in the neighborhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun where rebels have had a presence for years.
Both the Islamist faction Faylaq al-Sham and the Fateh al-Sham Front – formerly Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate – are thought to be present in Jobar.
The UN’s humanitarian affairs spokesman Jens Laerke said: “In order to actually initiate the actual movement of these convoys we need the facilitation letters”. SANA said the shelling violates the cease-fire.
A day earlier, Russian Federation said it killed 250 ISIS fighters near the desert city of Palmyra.
The trucks contain flour for more than 150,000 people and food rations for 35,000 people for a month, a United Nations spokesman said.
Aid, meanwhile, was still stuck at the Turkish border on Friday, further complicating an already hard situation.
“One of the key issues is access, and one of the main arteries into Aleppo is Castello Road”.
A military source told AFP on Friday that Syria’s army “has carried out its pledge and handed over a number of points to the Russian monitoring teams” but that rebel groups had not pulled back from their positions.
“As humanitarians this is immensely frustrating”.
Russia, critics say, has repeatedly used talks to blunt criticism of its support of Mr Assad, sow doubt among USA allies on the ground and buy time for Syrian forces to improve their position. The sense of urgency can not be overstated and the world is watching.
Advertisement
Washington accused Damascus of blocking aid.