The UN Security Council, led by New Zealand, called earlier for a closed consultations in order for both the USA and Russian Federation to brief members on the latest agreement on Syria.
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The closed-door consultations were scrapped after Moscow and Washington failed to agree on how disclose details of the ceasefire to the council.
“The message was given during a Friday phone call between Secretary of State John KerryJohn KerryUS to Russia: No joint Syrian operations if aid can’t get through Pentagon: “Not all terms” of Syrian cease-fire being met A clear signal on Georgia’s future MORE and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the department said”.
Kerry told Lavrov that Washington “expects Russian Federation to use its influence on the (President Bashar al-) Assad regime to allow United Nations humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”.
Staffan de Mistura says a U.S. -Russia brokered cease-fire deal agreed last week has largely reduced the violence since it came into effect Monday, but the humanitarian aid flows that were expected to follow have not materialized.
The U.N. has accused Assad’s government of obstructing aid access to the contested city.
Two aid convoys destined for the city remain stuck on the Turkish border while the sides argue over how to deliver the goods to those in need.
“We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities for a further 72 hours”, senior Russian officer Viktor Poznikhir said.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV aired Saturday, al-Golani says the deal reached last week would allow Assad’s forces to advance, while eradicating any substantial armed challenge on the ground.
“Although the ceasefire agreement is bilateral, only one side is truly implementing it”, defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
He said the Syrian army has fully complied with the truce that went into force Monday, while the opposition units have violated it 144 times since then.
On Sept. 13, the Russian forces installed checkpoints and surveillance cameras on the road.
According to Tasnim dispatches, the Syrian army redeployed its forces on Saturday to the Castillo Road after terrorists fired at a military post of the army.
Russian Federation said Syrian government troops had begun to withdraw from Castello Road on the outskirts of Aleppo – the route through which the trucks will pass – on Thursday but this has not been independently confirmed.
But experts say the deal will be particularly hard to implement in areas where Fateh al-Sham has formed strong alliances with local rebels.
The fighting that erupted in neighborhoods on the edges of Damascus is the heaviest in weeks and could be heard across the Syrian capital.
Fighting between government troops and rebels was concentrated in the neighbourhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun, where rebels, including Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, have had a presence for years, according to the SOHR.
The US Central Command statement came after Syria and Russian Federation said the US-led coalition had struck a Syrian military base in Deir el-Zour which is surrounded by IS militants, enabling the extremists to advance.
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.
The UN said trucks loaded with aid were for a second day in a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria, voicing hope the supplies could be delivered to besieged rebel-held districts of Aleppo city on Friday.
Hezbollah’s media arm, known as Military Media, said demonstrators from the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahraa in Aleppo province have started a march toward Castello road to demand that no aid be allowed into eastern Aleppo until aid is sent to two Shiite villages besieged by insurgents in the nearby province of Idlib.
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“As humanitarians this is immensely frustrating”.
