In a telephone call to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov the USA secretary of state John Kerry made it plain that America would not conduct joint operations with Russia against ISIL and other extremists unless the Syrian regime allowed humanitarian aid into the cities suffering under long-term siege.
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Russian Federation issued its criticism after the United Nations said Syria hadn’t provided the necessary permission for its aid convoy to go to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, where 300,000 civilians are trapped. “It does deal with sensitive issues that we believe, if made public, could potentially be misused to misinterpreted or used by – I know Secretary [John] Kerry talked about the spoilers or would-be spoilers of this”.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power had been due to brief the council behind closed-doors on Friday but that was canceled at the last minute.
UN Security Council members were to meet at 2130 GMT for closed-door consultations, diplomats said, after Russia’s envoy to the United Nations said Moscow wanted a UN resolution to endorse the deal. Both government and rebel forces have yet to withdraw from the Castello Road, a point of access needed to reach Aleppo.
The United Nations has described the truce as a “critical window of opportunity” to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo city, where around 250,000 civilians are under siege.
The United States has been reluctant to release the details of the agreement, citing security concerns for some US-backed groups fighting in Syria.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir of the Russian military’s General Staff declared a readiness to extend the cease-fire for another 72 hours, adding that Moscow expects Washington to take “resolute action” to end violations by the US -backed opposition units to prevent the situation from “spinning out of control”.
In Moscow, Igor Konashenkov, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, criticized the USA for what he called a failure to remain faithful to the agreement.
Under the ceasefire, the United States and Russian Federation said they would set up a “Joint Implementation Centre” to share targeting information for airstrikes in Syria if the truce that took effect on Monday holds for one week.
Three more died and 13 were injured in air strikes in rebel-held Idlib province on Friday, the Observatory said.
“Beyond all doubt, the Russian side is continuing to use its influence to make sure that the ceasefire accords are implemented and we hope our American colleagues will do the same”.
The ceasefire began on Monday and could, if all goes well be renewed for another 48 hours at midnight on Friday.
The ceasefire deal went into effect Monday and calls for a halt to the violence between the Syrian regime and rebel forces, but it does not cover militant groups considered terrorists, such as ISIS and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al Nusra Front. One was killed in al Hader in the northern countryside of Queintra, when opposition rebels fired shells on the area. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Laerke said the trucks are in a “special customs zone” on the Turkish border.
In the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, clashes and shelling over the past 24 hours between government forces and the Islamic State group in the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour, have killed at least three people, including a child, according to activists and state media.
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Russian Federation military spokesman Igor Konashenkov hit out at the United States for what he called “rhetorical fog” intended “to hide the fact that it is not fulfilling its part of the obligations”. “At the same time, the “moderate opposition” led by the USA is increasing the amount of attacks on residential districts”, Konashenkov said.
