The United Nations special envoy for Syria says an operation to deliver aid to 19 besieged and hard-to-reach Syrian towns has been approved by the government in Damascus.
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He made the comments after the weekly meeting of the Syria humanitarian taskforce, co-chaired by the United States and Russian Federation, which has for months been trying to boost aid supplies to millions of Syrians in need.
The Syrian opposition has pressed the detainee question during peace talks, insisting those held by the government needed to be released in order for negotiations to move forward.
More than 20 countries agreed at a meeting co-chaired by Russian Federation and America on 17 May that air drops should be used by a deadline of 1 June if the Syrian government was not allowing land convoys through to hundreds of thousands of Syrians besieged mainly by its forces.
De Mistura said, however, he was taking a wait and see approach.
The United States suggested, On Thursday, that if Syria continues to block efforts to drop food aid to its besieged communities that Russian Federation might want to use its own planes for the task.
Of his part, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed gratitude, Tuesday, for Russia, China, and Iran for the support they have provided to the Damascus government.
“Why? Because we are aware that a third round needs to be a concrete one”, he said, adding that this meant steps toward a political transition to end the five-year war.
The talks, which began in conjunction with the ceasefire, initially set August 1 as a deadline for completion of plans to install a transition government in Syria.
This comes as the task force has recently come under pressure by some Western countries, including France and Britain, to start air-dropping aid into besieged areas.
“We urge all Syrian groups and streams to act rationally and apply peaceful approaches in direction of Syrian nation’s will and negotiate with Syrian government and move towards establishing peace and security and uprooting terrorism”, said Dehgan.
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“Russia actually has air assets on the ground in Syria and ostensibly has the permission of the Syrian government to fly”, Toner told reporters.
