Devastation in central Daraya last month.
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Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations mediator of Syria peace talks, has said he wants to see improved humanitarian access, as well as a renewed lull in the fighting, before announcing a date for a new round of peace talks in Geneva.
He says the aid getting into Daraya is “too little, too late” and notes a Wednesday deadline set by world powers for “full land access to every single area in Syria that is now besieged”.
But a deputy to the United Nations special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday: “As long as the World Food Programme has not yet finalised its plans, I don’t think there’s something imminent”.
Air drops are a tactic of last resort in humanitarian disasters as they are fraught with practical problems, though campaigners say they are the only viable option in some areas of Syria and some air drops have been carried out, mainly in Deir er-Zor with the support of the Russians.
The government siege of a Damascus suburb was broken Wednesday with delivery of medical supplies and a small amount of baby food, after Syria agreed to allow an worldwide aid convoy to enter the area for the first time since 2012.
The U.N. wants to supply 11 besieged or hard-to-reach areas in the next few days and already has approval to deliver food aid to three other areas next week, he said.
The Red Cross reported that aid entered the Damascus suburbs of Daraya and Moadamiyeh on Wednesday after the Government agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire.
The United Nations Security Council is set to discuss the possibility of starting humanitarian air drops to besieged areas of Syria.
Rycroft, however, said the access to Daraya and Mouadamiya was “too little, too late”, noting that the ISSG had called for full access to the entire country, not just a few areas.
French ambassador Francois Delattre, who holds the council presidency this month, blamed the Syrian regime for blocking access to towns and villages under siege.
Regime-besieged Madaya became infamous in late 2015 after dozens starved in the town.
Russian officials said a 48-hour truce in Daraya had been agreed “with the leadership and the American side” to help with the aid delivery.
“I think we need to continue to pursue with land deliveries”, Churkin said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia that includes Arab fighters, have meanwhile approached to within 14 kilometers (nine miles) of Manbij.
Both goals require dealing with a government in Moscow that the United States believes has repeatedly lied about its activities in Syria, and has been both unable and unwilling to press its client, the Assad government, to stop its attacks and negotiate a political deal.
“The clashes are very violent and IS is putting up fierce resistance”, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
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The 20 world and regional powers taking part in the process have so far failed to turn a fragile cessation of hostilities in Syria, in effect since February 27, into a durable truce between the government and opposition groups.
