A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is using its influence on the Syrian government to make sure the ongoing cease-fire holds and wants the United States to do the same with regards to opposition groups.
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The second attempt this year by the Cold War-era superpower foes to halt the conflict has succeeded so far in curbing the fighting, but it remains a risky gamble in a war that has made a mockery of all previous peace efforts.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, including Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russian Federation. But such unprecedented cooperation would come at a time of deep mistrust between the two countries, whose relations are at their worst for decades.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power had been due to give a closed-door briefing to the council on Friday but it was canceled at the last minute. Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that Russian Federation “is still using its influence” to make sure the agreement, hammered out between Russian Federation and the US, stands.
A Security Council endorsement would add political weight to the deal, but would have no implications on the ground.
Karaj al-Hajz corridor in rebel-held Aleppo leads towards the government controlled area of Masharqa. Assad’s government, which holds its strongest position on the battlefield since the early days of the war, is also in no hurry to compromise.
The two countries back opposite sides in the conflict, with Moscow supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the United States behind a coalition of rebel groups.
Washington said it agreed that an extension was important, but also voiced alarm over the failure of aid to arrive.
John Kerry, the USA secretary of state, conveyed the message to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, in a phone call.
The UN has called the truce a “critical window of opportunity” to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo city, where around 250,000 civilians are under siege. Pro-government forces encircled the rebel zone this month, trapping an estimated 300,000 civilians there with no way to bring in food.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fighting between government troops and rebels was concentrated in the neighbourhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun, where rebels have had a presence for years. He says aid is expected to enter rebel-held Aleppo later Friday.
Clashes hit areas east of Damascus on Friday. Each side said the other had attacked first. Insurgent groups in Aleppo said they had seen no such withdrawal from the government side, and would not pull back from their own positions until it did so. All three were in rebel-held areas: two were children, and two killed by government sniper fire, the group said.
A convoy of United Nations trucks has been languishing for days on the Turkish border waiting for permission to head to Aleppo and deliver food.
But on Friday, the trucks were still waiting at the border with Turkey, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: “In general, we can still state that the process is moving forward, despite some setbacks”.
A U.S. official said the session was canceled because the Russians were trying to force the USA make the cease-fire deal public and Washington would “not compromise operational security”.
A strike list issued by the USA on Saturday said it had carried out a strike at Deir al-Zor against five Islamic State supply routes, as well as strikes near Raqqa and elsewhere in Syria.
The air strike killed Syrian soldiers and was “conclusive evidence” that the USA and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement, noting that the strike was “dangerous and blatant aggression”.
Assad appears as uncompromising as ever.
“It goes without saying that Russia continues using its influence in order to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire agreements and it hopes that our USA counterparts will be doing the same”, he said in remarks carried by the Russian news agency TASS.
The clashes on Friday were described as some of the most serious since the truce deal came into effect on Monday, with both the government and rebels accusing each other of breaching the US-Russia brokered ceasefire. The official wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity.
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The state-run Anadolu news agency says three US flags were hung on Thursday around a compound of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and were still visible from Turkey on Friday afternoon.
