Russian Federation has given fresh assurances it has impressed on the Syrian government it must allow aid into rebel-held east Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, but said it needed reassurances that the United States was putting pressure on Syrian opposition groups to abide by their side of the bargain.
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“The reason we’re not in eastern Aleppo has again been a combination of very hard and detailed discussions around security monitoring and passage of roadblocks, which is both opposition and government”, he said.
Two aid convoys destined for the city remain stuck on the Turkish border while the sides argue over how to deliver the goods to those in need.
A senior Syrian rebel official in Aleppo said a withdrawal by rebel factions was under debate “because the agreement stipulates that the regime must respect the truce but that did not happen”.
The deal calls for the truce to be renewed every 48 hours, and for Washington and Moscow to begin unprecedented joint targeting of jihadists like IS and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front if it lasts a week.
“Although the ceasefire agreement is bilateral, only one side is truly implementing it”, defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
A United Nations convoy of 20 trucks has crossed the Turkish border into a buffer zone with food and other supplies destined for the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo, but it has also been held up, though for a different reason: An agreement to separate the forces along the road into the city had yet to take effect, de Mistura said.
Russian Col. Sergei Kapitsyn said in a video call from the Castello Road that the rebels fired on government positions overnight, wounding two soldiers and prompting the Syrian army to move their weapons back to the road to prevent the rebels from advancing.
The truce, brokered by Russian Federation and the United States, is their second attempt this year to halt Syria’s five-year-old civil war.
It says Thursday that government forces will not start pulling out until the rebels begin to do the same.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it recorded no civilian deaths during the first 15 hours of the cease-fire.
Rebel groups fight alongside al-Qaida-linked militants against Assad’s forces, as the extremists are among the most potent fighting forces in the country.
Russian Federation has blamed violations on the rebels, while the opposition accused al-Assad’s forces of breaking the terms of the deal.
The fighting and shelling in neighborhoods on the edges of Damascus were the heaviest in weeks, according to activists and residents, sparking concern the fragile cease-fire may be starting to fray.
Syrian troops and anti-government rebels battled in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, an area already devastated by the five-year conflict.
Russian Federation says it will help ensure the cease-fire in Syria for another three days, but warned the United States to press the rebels to end their violations to prevent the situation from “spinning out of control”.
The Observatory said three rebel fighters and four members of the government forces were killed.
Under the truce deal, the main route into divided Aleppo, the Castello Road, would be demilitarised and aid convoys would enter from Turkey.
The trucks are carrying enough to feed 40,000 people for an entire month.
Insurgents shelled government-held areas in the eastern area of Qaboun, wounding three people, Syrian state media said.
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“As humanitarians this is immensely frustrating”. We’re here, we’re on the ground and we’re ready to move…
