“Syrian government forces have completely stopped [their] shelling, except for the areas occupied by ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra militants”.
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As the truce is largely an effort to allow aid to reach Syrians in need of help, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Russian Federation and the U.S. Wednesday to push their allies in Syria to allow safe passage for desperately needed aid.
“This is a very complex environment and we need security guarantees”, said OCHA spokesman David Swanson.
Military lawyers are determining what the legal liability is for the USA if, after the collaboration begins, Russian Federation continues to use unguided, or “dumb”, bombs to indiscriminately hit civilian targets on the so-called “no-strike list” that include schools, hospitals and other critical Syrian infrastructure.
Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, also praised in a statement on Tuesday other insurgent factions in Syria, which have criticized the deal for excluding the al-Qaida affiliate.
But distinguishing protected rebels from jihadists is hard, particularly with regards to a group formerly called the Nusra Front, which was al Qaeda’s Syria branch until it changed its name in July. But the Pentagon will share targeting information related to the Front for the Conquest of Syria, formerly known as Al Nusra Front, which the USA considers Al Qaeda’s branch in northwestern Syria. Russian Federation has said that USA allies work alongside the Al Qaeda-linked militants and are therefore indistinguishable amid the mosaic of militias on the ground in Syria.
In June, activists said the Syrian regime pounded the area with barrel bombs just hours after food was delivered to the besieged suburb for the first time in almost four years.
Syria has been going through a civil war for five years and recent estimates say more than 300,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict.
The figure is an increase of almost 9,000 on the last death toll published by the Observatory in early August.
The Islamic State group has released a gory video in which its fighters are seen killing 19 people from Syria’s eastern province, accusing them of being spies for the West.
There was no immediate comment from USA officials.
Turkey’s foreign minister is accusing the Syrian government of not abiding by a U.S. -Russia brokered cease-fire. Damascus and many other cities were calm but there were a few reports of clashes between government forces and opposition forces.
Cavusoglu says he hopes all parties will work to make the cease-fire permanent and that efforts “cannot be one-sided”.
Swanson said it was unlikely the situation would be resolved within the coming hours. However, the opposition says a loophole would allow the government to continue air strikes for up to nine days.
He also highlighted the challenge of separating opposition rebels from al-Nusra fighters, a key component of the package adopted by the United States and Russian Federation last week after marathon discussions.
The convoys, each comprising some 20 trucks, crossed into Syria from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu on Tuesday. A total of 40 trucks are expected to cross the border by the end of the day.
Lavrov said Moscow “has nothing to hide” and wants the U.N. Security Council to formally approve the Syria truce deal as well.
A cessation of hostilities in Syria that took effect Monday appears to be largely holding, though the United Nations says further assurances are required before humanitarian vehicles can deliver aid to those in need.
“There is no doubt a significant drop in violence”, he said, before cautioning that that only 24 hours of relative calm had passed. United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said reports reaching his office indicated “a significant drop in violence”, in a rare respite in Syria’s devastating conflict.
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Supplies are in warehouses ready for transportation to rebel-held east Aleppo and other besieged areas as soon as they are cleared to enter, said spokeswoman Krista Armstrong of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He said the agency needs “peace to be reinstated before we can go in”.
