Russia’s military announced Thursday evening that Syrian government forces had begun withdrawing from Castello road but did not confirm if Russian troops would be stationed there.
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“It’s particularly regrettable because we are losing time”, said de Mistura, emphasizing the importance of getting the convoys moving during the weeklong cease-fire and calling for immediate action to unblock aid deliveries. But the army later drove the rebels out of al-Ramouseh. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reported the government was leaving the area. Control of the Castello Road is divided between the government and rebels battling to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad for more than five years. It has been a major line of contention in the civil war.
It says Thursday that government forces will not start pulling out until the rebels begin to do the same.
De Mistura said a contested highway into eastern Aleppo, Castello Road, had “special status” under the ceasefire agreement, meaning its use would need to be negotiated separately for the delivery of aid.
He added, however, “What really matters here is that the president of the United States supports this agreement, and our system of government works in such a way that everyone follows what the president says”.
Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, the Advisor to the Special Envoy, reiterated “the good news is that our people on the ground confirmed that the cessation of hostilities is largely holding, the killing has been greatly reduced, in fact no reports on civilian killings the last 24 hours”. The 20 trucks traveled from Turkey and are expected to deliver aid to a portion of Aleppo where 250,000 people are desperate for food and fuel.
In other respects, de Mistura blames the Syrian government, saying it has yet to issue proper permits for aid to pass through.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Syria is one of the most complex and dynamic humanitarian crises in the world today.
Russian Federation wants the U.N. Security Council to endorse the Syrian cease-fire agreement that it brokered together with the United States.
Until then, aid is stuck at the Turkish border because the Syrian government has not guaranteed safe passage. Government forces backed by militias from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon have recently achieved their long-held objective of encircling the rebel-held east.
Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday accused Washington of failing to meet its obligations under the Syria ceasefire agreement, while criticizing United States officials for voicing skepticism over cooperation with Moscow.
The largest rebel group in Syria stated unequivocally Sunday it would not cooperate with the ceasefire agreement. But a similar agreement unravelled earlier this year, and this one also faces enormous challenges.
The nature of the cease-fire itself is fragile, with several reported violations, and sparring between the USA and Russian Federation over the extent of their military cooperation-a precondition of the cease-fire agreement-against ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.
The delivery of aid is a precondition of the survival of a cessation of hostilities that came into effect on Monday and is created to lead to unprecedented joint Russian-American action against terror groups inside Syria.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov slammed what he called “rhetorical fog” intended “to hide the fact that the U.S. is not fulfilling its part of the obligations”.
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Also not included in the truce is the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front.
