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USA tells Russian Federation no joint targeting unless aid flows to Syria

The Security Council had been scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the agreement, but the session was cancelled at the last minute because the U.S. did not want to make the details public, according to Russian and United States officials.

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The council is expected to hold those closed talks later on September 16.

The US and Russian Federation have announced in Geneva on September 10 a plan to bring a ceasefire in Syria, where it called for the Syrian government and the opposition to respect a nationwide ceasefire. The opposition said government forces and their allies bombarded several areas across the country, mostly in Aleppo and the nearby province of Idlib in the north of the country.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said conditions in Syria were deteriorating, adding that it believed the ceasefire had been breached 199 times by rebels and saying the United States would be responsible if it were to collapse.

Lt Gen Viktor Poznikhir claimed the Syrian army has fully complied with the truce while the opposition units have violated it 144 times. He says the US has failed to take measures to ensure the opposition’s compliance with the agreement.

In December, Damascus accused US coalition warplanes of striking an army camp near Deir al-Zor, but Washington said it was done by Russian jets. SANA said the shelling violates the cease-fire.

The U.N. has accused Assad’s government of obstructing aid access to the contested city.

The cease-fire took effect on Monday, and despite reports of violations, it has largely held.

Mr Bogdanov said the current deal was “the only plan on the table”. That mission was approved by the US president Barack Obama earlier this week. Humanitarian aid could arrive in rebel-held parts of Aleppo later Friday, but other obstacles remain, the group said.

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said Mr Assad’s regime had still not delivered the necessary permission forms.

But Washington has warned Russian Federation that unless aid is delivered to Aleppo, it will not move ahead with the formation of the joint coordination center.

Aid deliveries are part of a U.S. -Russia deal that imposed the cease-fire.

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. However, the cease-fire does not apply to attacks on the Islamic State group.

But Turkey views them as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the U.S.

One of the most powerful insurgent groups in Aleppo province denied that government forces had withdrawn from the Castello road. The modalities for ensuring safe passage have not yet been cleared and given to us so that we can move. He says that Moscow hopes that “our American counterparts will do the same”.

CNN Turk footage showed white smoke rising from across the border in Syria as Turkish howitzers fired west of al-Rai, where the Syrian Observatory said Free Syrian Army rebel groups gained control of two villages.

Syria’s national TV also confirmed the killing of Syrian servicemen by the US -led coalition.

The defense ministry in Russian Federation, which has been aiding Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the five-year-old civil war, said USA jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four air strikes and that a fierce battle was now taking place near the airport.

The rebel official said it was not possible for Russian Federation to be a sponsor of the agreement while it bombed the country night and day, while on the other side America had the role of spectator.

Opposition activists said government forces tried to storm Jobar, northeast of the capital, but were repelled by opposition fighters.

If the ceasefire deal is successful, Moscow and Washington will start to share targeting information on militant groups, including Islamic State, they have said.

-Russian agreement reached a week ago. Russian Federation intervened with its air force on the side of President Bashar Assad’s government past year, turning the tide of the war in his favor.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said ISIS militants launched an attack on the Syrian position after the airstrikes, Sputnik reported.

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Fighting between government troops and rebels was concentrated in the neighbourhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun, where rebels, including Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, have had a presence for years, according to the SOHR. The Pentagon said it had no indication of a withdrawal.

A civil defence member carries an injured girl after an airstrike in the rebel-controlled city of Idlib Syria. REUTERS  Ammar Abdullah