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Aid convoys head to besieged areas of Syria Syria cease-fire likely to be delayed as timeline for U.S.-Russia talks bogs down
(about 4 hours later)
CAIRO — Convoys of trucks carried aid to besieged areas of Syria from the country's capital, Damascus, reports said Wednesday, in what the United Nations hopes will mark the first step toward accessing devastated Syrian communities and securing a temporary cease-fire scheduled to take effect later this week. An initial meeting between U.S. and Russian representatives tasked with organizing a cessation of hostilities in Syria will not be held until Friday, making it unlikely that an actual cease-fire will take place on that day, as originally scheduled.
The Syrian Red Crescent said 100 truckloads of humanitarian supplies were heading to seven areas of Syria where civilians have been trapped by government or rebel armed forces, Reuters news agency reported. The cease-fire delay came as convoys of at least 100 trucks left Damascus on Wednesday carrying U.N.-organized aid to five besieged areas of the country that have been without food or medicine.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said 35 trucks entered the Damascus suburb of Moadamiya. Reuters reported that just nine trucks entered the area, citing a source with the Syrian Red Crescent. Twenty-four trucks carrying food, medicine and other assistance were approaching the beleaguered town of Madaya northwest of the capital Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Outside stakeholders in Syria’s civil war — including Russia and Iran in support of President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States, its partners in the region and Europe, who back the opposition — agreed early Friday in Munich on a cease-fire to “commence in one week” and humanitarian access to start immediately.
The U.N.-sponsored relief effort comes a day after the world body’s top Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, traveled to Damascus to push for “unhindered” humanitarian access to besieged populations, a U.N. spokesman said. World powers, including the United States and Russia, are still hammering out the details of a nationwide “cessation of hostilities” set to begin on Friday. The failure to begin either initiative on time boded ill for the success of the agreement, which is supposed to lead to government-opposition peace talks. Obama administration officials have called it a last-ditch attempt to peacefully resolve the civil conflict that it maintains is undermining its separate war against the Islamic State in Syria.
De Mistura is also working to bring stakeholders back to the table for a new round of peace talks starting Feb. 25.
[Airstrikes hit hospitals and schools in northern Syria][Airstrikes hit hospitals and schools in northern Syria]
Violence in Syria’s years-long conflict has risen since Syrian regime forces backed by Russia advanced on rebel positions in the country’s north earlier this month. Trucks carrying humanitarian aid were reported en route to or entering Madaya, Zabadani, and Moadamiya near Damascus, and Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province in the country’s north. The suburbs near Damascus are under siege by pro-government ­forces, while Syrian rebels have surrounded the two villages in Idlib.
The areas now set to receive aid include Madaya, Zabadani, and Moadamiya near Damascus, and Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province in the country’s north. The suburbs near Damascus are under siege by pro-government forces, while Syrian rebels have surrounded the two villages in Idlib. Madaya gained worldwide attention in January after dozens of people died of starvation. Russia is reportedly considering airdrops of aid to the city of Deir al-Zour in the east, currently encircled by Islamic State militants.
Madaya gained worldwide attention in January after dozens of people died of starvation. Aid would also be delivered by air to the city of Deir al-Zour in the east, currently encircled by Islamic State militants, according to a statement from the 17-member International Syria Support Group.
A global advocacy group, the Syria Campaign, said Wednesday that the aid was insufficient and accused the United Nations of complicity in government sieges of civilian areas.A global advocacy group, the Syria Campaign, said Wednesday that the aid was insufficient and accused the United Nations of complicity in government sieges of civilian areas.
“The reality is the U.N. is deeply complicit in the Syrian regime’s tactic of besieging civilians,” Anna Nolan, director of the Britain-based group, said of the aid deliveries Wednesday.“The reality is the U.N. is deeply complicit in the Syrian regime’s tactic of besieging civilians,” Anna Nolan, director of the Britain-based group, said of the aid deliveries Wednesday.
“The little aid that goes in [on Wednesday] is a result of public pressure, not because of U.N. action,” she said in a statement.“The little aid that goes in [on Wednesday] is a result of public pressure, not because of U.N. action,” she said in a statement.
[Battered Aleppo latest stage for Syria’s proxy war][Battered Aleppo latest stage for Syria’s proxy war]
Russia intervened in the civil war last fall to prevent its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, from being toppled by rebels. Russia has since turned the tide against the insurgents and helped pro-regime forces close in on rebel strongholds in places such as Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Russia intervened in the civil war in the fall to prevent its ally, Assad, from being toppled by rebels. Russian airstrikes have since turned the tide against the insurgents and helped pro-regime forces­ close in on rebel strongholds in places such as Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Russia’s intervention has also raised tensions with Turkey, whose government wants to prevent Syrian Kurds from seizing territory on the Turkish border. Turkey has waged a decades-long fight against ethnic Kurdish guerillas at home. And Turkey’s deputy prime minister on Wednesday said the country wanted to establish a “secure zone” inside Syria to prevent “change in the demographic structure in the area,” Turkish media reported. The intervention has also raised tensions between NATO-member Turkey and both Russia and the United States.
Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to local officials that Turkey has “no such plans” to halt cross-border shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria, the AP reported. Turkey, which has waged a decades-long fight against ethnic Kurdish guerrillas, has opposed U.S. support for Syrian Kurds fighting against the Islamic State. It charges­ that the Kurds are in league with Russia and Assad in attempting to take over territory north of Aleppo along the northwest Syria-Turkey border.
Since Saturday, Turkey and the Syrian Kurds have exchanged cross-border fire. The Obama administration has called for both sides to stop, leading the Turkish government to accuse Washington of a hostile attitude and support for a group that it considers terrorist.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that he has “no plans” to stop the shelling, despite U.S. entreaties.
The fighting around Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of Syrian civilians fleeing toward the closed Turkish border, where the government repeated its call for establishment of a “secure zone” inside Syria, protected by U.S. and allied forces.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is hosting about 800,000 refugees from Syria and other countries in the region and fears an influx of even more, made a similar call Wednesday.
In an address to the German Parliament, Merkel described the situation for besieged civilians in and around Aleppo as “intolerable” and said that “nothing should be left undone” in trying to establish a no-fly zone, the international German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the administration had not changed its long-standing opposition to establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria.
Toner said the administration was “pushing as fast as possible” on beginning a cease-fire, “recognizing that on both sides, there have to be consultations on the ground” before the U.S.- and Russia-led task force “can come together and meet and seriously talk about a cessation of hostilities.”
He said the U.S. team for the talks, to be held in Geneva, would be headed by Robert Malley, President Obama’s chief adviser on the Syria situation.
The administration has repeatedly rebuffed Russian entreaties to coordinate air operations in Syria, saying that Russian insistence that it is targeting the Islamic State is belied by the fact that most of its strikes have hit rebel groups fighting Assad.
But some level of coordination is necessary, Toner said, if the United States and Russia are to persuade those they are supporting on the ground to stop fighting. Among its other responsibilities, the task force is to delineate geographic areas where air attacks will cease and develop an adjudication mechanism for possible violations.
Cunningham reported from Cairo.