Late Monday, the HNC alleged two violations by regime forces in Daraa, southern Syria, and two by Russian warplanes in the central province of Hama. “And yet over 450,000 people are now trapped in besieged towns and villages in Syria – and have been, in some cases, for years”.
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The office of the United Nations envoy for Syria says he has pushed back the planned resumption of peace talks between the government and opposition groups to March 9 for “logistical and practical” reasons. An attempt to restart talks collapsed last month over escalating violence, including a Russian-backed government offensive in Aleppo.
The deal meanwhile does not apply to the vast swaths of territory held by the ISIL group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
The UN said that the talks would be postponed if there is no progress seen in cessation of hostility in Syria.
The journalists were traveling in armoured trucks provided by the Russian military, and were escorted by Russian special forces.
Eight shells have been fired in total.
WHO Representative in Syria Elizabeth Hoff said in some cases life-saving medical supplies had been rejected and removed from aid convoys by government security forces.
Referring to the committee’s letter, Kerry said Russian Federation and the US – co-chairs of the ISSG – were working to find out if violations had taken place or the attacks were legitimate engagements with ISIS or al Nusra, or both.
In a related development, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossein Jaber Ansari refuted Kerry’s announcement on Thursday that “a large number of Revolutionary Guards” had withdrawn from Syria.
He also said that the Russian coordination center and a similar USA center in Amman have been in close contact, with the Russians calling the Americans several times a day to exchange information about the cease-fire.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged yesterday to do his part to guarantee the success of a shaky ceasefire that was largely holding into its fourth day.
The recent push by Assad’s forces – backed by Russian air cover and Iran-backed Shi’ite militias – to cut off rebel supply lines from Turkey into Aleppo has resulted in some of the most significant battlefield gains for the regime since the Syrian civil war war erupted in 2011.
The most important thing for me, legally and constitutionally, and basing on the interest of the Syrian people and the principle of any state that you’re not allowed, as a citizen, to hold machine guns and hurt people or properties.
He also claimed that if armed groups opposed to him dropped their weapons his regime would “give them fully amnesty”.
“For this objective the Syrian-Turkish border has to be closed, since across this border those gangs receive arms, including with humanitarian convoys”, Lavrov said in remarks to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says the ongoing cease-fire in Syria has been violated 15 times in the past 24 hours. Operations against Islamic State – also known as Daesh – and the Nusra Front were going ahead.
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The journalists were visiting the village of Kinsibba, which overlooks the Turkish border, on a trip organised by Russia’s defence and foreign ministries.
