Russian Federation has given fresh assurances it has impressed on the Syrian government it must allow aid into rebel-held east Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, but said it needed reassurances that the U.S. was putting pressure on Syrian opposition groups to abide by their side of the bargain.
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“Right now we are focused on the implementation of the agreement brokered by Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov, particularly the urgent need for humanitarian aid to reach Syrians in need”, a USA spokesperson said in a statement.
He says 40 aid trucks are ready to move and his priority is getting aid into the embattled, rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
The U.N. has said both sides in the war are to blame for the delay of aid to Aleppo, where neither has yet withdrawn from the Castello Road into the city.
Government forces and rebels were engaged in fierce fighting near the capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Moscow said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from Castello Road on Friday but was forced to return after its forces “came under attack by rebels using small arms fire”, said Stratford, quoting Russian officials.
Aid deliveries are part of a U.S. -Russia deal that imposed the cease-fire.
The council is expected to hold those closed talks later on September 16.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is using its influence on the Syrian government to make sure the ongoing cease-fire holds and wants the United States to do the same with regards to opposition groups.
Australian planes were involved in the US-led accidental strike that killed Syrian government soldiers, in an error that may have helped Isis.
Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby said humanitarian conditions in the eastern neighborhoods of Syria’s largest city are deteriorating.
In December, Damascus accused USA coalition warplanes of striking an army camp near Dayr az-Zawr but Washington said it was done by Russian jets.
Breaches of the truce by Syrian troops and rebel groups have also been reported.
The powerful Nour el-Din el-Zinki opposition group said that government forces were still on the road, according to the Associated Press.
OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said “it is my understanding” that United Nations officials are waiting for assurances that conditions are safe enough for convoys to proceed from Turkey to eastern Aleppo.
Syria’s military says the USA -led coalition carried out an airstrike on an eastern base that is surrounded by Islamic State militants, allowing the extremists to advance and potentially dealing a major blow to a shaky cease-fire.
Russian Federation is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and has been carrying out airstrikes on behalf of his forces since a year ago. SANA said the shelling violates the cease-fire, which went into effect Monday.
Syria’s government said it was doing all that was necessary for the arrival of aid to those in need it in all parts of the country, particularly to eastern Aleppo.
The official also said the USA will continue to pursue compliance with the cessation of hostilities as it continues military action against IS and an al-Qaida-affiliated group.
The cease-fire has largely held since it went into effect on Monday, bringing calm to much of the country despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides.
But early Friday, the trucks were still waiting at the border with Turkey, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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Under a deal which has halted fighting in Syria, only so-called Islamic State (IS) and a group previously officially linked to al-Qaeda can be targeted. Laerke said the trucks are in a “special customs zone” on the Turkish border.
