The rebels themselves have voiced strong opposition to letting in aid via the Castello route, fearing this would end up favoring the government and cementing its control over the road, allowing Assad’s forces to reintroduce a siege in the future.
Advertisement
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said one girl was killed when missiles fired by rebels hit a village in the southern province of Quneitra.
The route is a vital supply line into the rebel-held eastern side of Aleppo. They accuse the Syrian government of failing to provide the necessary paperwork to guarantee safe passage for aid convoys.
Putin also suggested the US was taking a “very risky route” trying to maintain the combat potential of rebels fighting the Syrian government and expressed that the USA could not separate moderate rebels from “the half-criminal and terrorist elements”. But he says there’s been less success implementing the part of the agreement that is meant to facilitate the delivery humanitarian assistance.
State television spoke of a violation of the ceasefire.
US officials and the International Syria Support Group will go through details of the deal next week on the sidelines of UN General Assembly annual meetings, he added.
He said the government had agreed on September 6 – before the cease-fire deal was signed – to allow aid into five areas, but the authorsation has not come.
The ceasefire deal calls for the demilitarization of the key Castello Road into the city.
He says that under the deal, opposition units were supposed to move away in lockstep but have failed to do so.
Toner said that the US administration is doing its best to answer questions from partners and the media with respect to the deal.
Earlier this year, yet another ceasefire fell apart in Syria, so there’s a lot more diplomatic dance and caution involved this time. The Observatory reported the first three deaths since the cease- fire went into effect on Thursday.
Mr Bogdanov said “they key criteria, is action”.
U.S. officials have voiced doubts Russian Federation will meet its obligations as part of the agreement struck last week between the two former Cold War adversaries after years of bad blood over Russia’s policies over Ukraine and Syria.
Several previous negotiated cease-fires and efforts to hold the peace talks have stalled.
According to Syrian state media, militants shelled government-held areas in Qaboun, northeast of the city centre, injuring three people.
In a separate development, air strikes on Friday reportedly killed 23 civilians and wounded 20 others near Deir Az Zor, an eastern town controlled by ISIL. It wasn’t known who carried out the attack.
Despite the on-going cease-fire, which went into effect this week following a U.S.
The U.S. -led coalition, Russian Federation and the Syrian government have been carrying out air raids against the extremist group.
United Nations humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said both the rebels and the government were responsible for delaying aid deliveries into Aleppo.
But on Thursday evening, Russian Federation – co-author with the United States of the ceasefire agreement – said Syrian regime forces had finally begun pulling back from the road.
Advertisement
“As of Saturday morning, there has been no [delivery] progress”, said David Swanson, an official at the UN’s regional humanitarian affairs office for the Syria crisis.
