(Adds meeting, paragraph 2, Mogherini, 6, medical evacuations, 11-14) By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Aid convoys have been unable to reach civilians trapped in besieged areas of Syria this month and a humanitarian task force has been suspended to prod big powers to double down on securing a ceasefire, the United Nations peace envoy on Syria said on Thursday. The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that the clashes broke out anew after YPG fighters attacked military positions in the city on Friday.
Advertisement
Humanitarian agencies have said the fight for Aleppo is “one of the most devastating in modern times”.
Continuing clashes between rebels and the Syrian army and allied militias were fiercest in the southwest of city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom -based monitor of the five-year-old civil war, said on Friday.
But he says that what’s needed most to ease the suffering of the people there and across Syria is a cease-fire.
United Nations officials say that trucks are “ready to move” into both government and rebel-held districts in the north Syrian city of Aleppo, as Russian Federation endorsed their calls for a 48-hour weekly ceasefire that would allow humanitarian aid into the city at regular intervals, along with facilitating medical evacuations.
The eastern Syrian city of Dayr al-Zawr, which is held by the militants, has continued to receive aid over the past month through World Food Programme air drops, de Mistura said, adding, however, that four other besieged areas have not been reached by a convoy in 110 days.
Authorities had enforced a three-hour truce to allow aid into the besieged area – that will now be extended to 48 hours following a plea from the United Nations.
Rebel-held areas suffer heavy air strikes daily as pro-government forces try to retake territory lost to rebels two weeks ago in the southwest of Aleppo. “But that is not enough – we must find a way to bring the siege and bombardment of civilians in Syria to an end”. “Our plan is to collectively work out the operational details, and be ready for delivery as soon as possible”, de Mistura’s office said in a statement.
The now-viral photo of a small boy covered in blood and dust after surviving an airstrike in Aleppo seems to have awakened the world to Syria’s five-year civil war. The Russian defence ministry said it did not conduct airstrikes in civilian neighbourhoods.
Russian warships in the past have launched cruise missiles at targets in Syria from both the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean, a show of the navy’s long-range precision strike capability.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported government warplanes had struck Kurdish positions in the city.
Advertisement
The main Kurdish force in Syria known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, has been the main USA -backed force in Syria and the most effective force in fighting the Islamic State group.
