The convoy of aid was supposed to head towards Aleppo on Wednesday, but Ban said the security arrangements were still not in place.
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“Syrian government troops have completely stopped firing” except in jihadist-held areas, but “the same can not be said for armed units of the moderate Opposition controlled by the US”, said Viktor Poznikhir, a senior Russian military officer.
After a summer-long effort by Syrian forces to surround rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Russia has attained Putin’s initial goal of an agreement with the U.S.to work together against the Islamic State and the local terrorist affiliate of al-Qaeda.
Kerry instead frames the ceasefire as a way to protect his and President Barack Obama’s legacy in Syria, to show that they at least tried to stop the bloodshed of the Syrian civil war.
“They say one thing and we don’t necessarily see them following up on that”, Votel said.
On the humanitarian front, Mr.de Mistura said that to make sure that aid can reach those in need, there should be no conditions or preconditions to its delivery. The eastern neighbourhoods where some 250,000 people live have been under government siege for most of the last two months.
The ceasefire in Syria is to be extended by 48 hours after the United States and Russian Federation agreed that despite sporadic violence, the truce was largely holding.
“There was agreement that as a whole, despite sporadic reports of violence, the arrangement is holding, and violence is significantly lower in comparison with previous days and weeks”, Toner said.
The two diplomats also agreed to extend the current truce by another 48 hours, Toner said.
“Since the very beginning of the crisis in Syria, Turkey has always provided support to the armed terrorist organizations and supplied them with money, arms, not to mention harboring terrorists, assisting them and bringing mercenaries from all over the world to murder the Syrian people and destroy their country”, the foreign ministry said.
Furthermore, Washington has evolved from a critic of Russia’s year-old intervention in Syria to a battlefield ally of Moscow as they prepare to launch airstrikes against extremist groups.
“The streets were always empty before”, a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Abo Haitham, told Reuters news agency.
“We have spent much of today pressing the Russians and, through the Russians, pressing the regime”. Currently, the number of violations (by) the rebels was 60, said that general.
The U.S. intelligence community is also wary that sharing information with Russian Federation will reveal how the U.S. collects valuable intelligence on groups inside Syria.
The deal agreed to by Kerry and Lavrov calls for a cease-fire between the US -backed Syrian rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as well as his Russian and Iranian allies.
He said that the attack could threaten the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the area, which is set to begin tomorrow.
If the ceasefire holds for seven days, it will pave the way for the U.S. and Russian Federation to coordinatie attacks on the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham, formerly the Nusra Front, which has tried to distance itself from al-Qaeda. He said 20 United Nations trucks were waiting at the border “ready to go”.
The Syrian government says it will only allow aid co-ordinated through itself and the United Nations to reach Aleppo.
The Jabhat Fatah al-Sham statement came a day after Syria’s largest insurgent groups expressed misgivings over the deal for excluding the al-Qaida-linked militants, who have been fighting alongside the rebels against Assad’s forces.
Obama, speaking Sunday at the G20 summit in China, said he does not think any new deal would last long enough for a political resolution in Syria.
Palmyra also carries important symbolic value for Russian Federation.
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The Observatory reported minor violations by both sides, but no casualties.
