Posted: Sep. 15, 2016 7:00 am Updated: Sep.
Advertisement
Toner said that the US administration is doing its best to answer questions from partners and the media with respect to the deal. Russian Federation intervened with its air force on the side of President Bashar al-Assad’s government a year ago, turning the tide of the war in his favor.
He quoted Russian observers of the ceasefire near the besieged city of Aleppo and said that the “the only party which is willing to hold talks, comply with the cease-fire and pull back the troops in order to allow United Nations humanitarian aid convoys” are the Syrian government forces.
Some 20 trucks have been waiting for safe passage to cross from Turkey into Syria and on to rebel-held east Aleppo since the cessation of hostilities came into effect on Monday.
The Syrian government agreed last week to allow humanitarian aid into five areas before the ceasefire deal was signed, according to de Mistura.
In other respects, de Mistura blames the Syrian government, saying it has yet to issue proper permits for aid to pass through.
“Humanitarian access, that is what makes a difference for the people, apart from seeing no more bombs or mortar shelling taking place”.
A ceasefire agreement brokered by the USA and Russian Federation has brought relative peace and quiet to many areas in Syria, including places like Aleppo that have seen fighting for months on end.
“Our appeal is the following”, Egeland said.
The UN had hoped that 40 trucks of food – enough to feed 80,000 people for one month – could be delivered there as soon as possible.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Thursday that the UN Security Council could adopt a resolution backing the agreement during a high-level meeting on Syria to be held on Wednesday.
In eastern Aleppo, 20 United Nations trucks have been waiting for the past 48 hours to get a United Nations agreement telling them it is safe to drive along the city. “In fact, no reports on civilian casualties in the last 24 hours”.
In the Syrian capital, Damascus, rare clashes erupted between government forces and an insurgent group, marking some of the most serious clashes in the area in weeks.
“By today this morning nothing had happened on the Castello Road …”
At the same time, the deputy chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, Sergey Kapitsyn, said that radar images and visual observation also show that opposition groups did not withdraw from the road.
A military source told AFP on Friday that Syria’s army “has carried out its pledge and handed over a number of points to the Russian monitoring teams” but that rebel groups had not pulled back from their positions.
“The United States will not compromise operational security”, the official said.
The Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the U.S. does not want to share documents or further information with the Council, and stressed that there is no point of the briefing if no enough information si provided.
However, Russia said it was still ready to extend the truce set to expire late Friday by 72 hours.
Advertisement
Under the truce, fighting is to halt across the country except where jihadists are present. The dead include 700 civilians, among them 160 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
