Russia Proposes March 1 Cease-Fire In Syria

The U.S.is concerned about reduced humanitarian access to Aleppo where Russian Federation continues to strike in support of the Syrian government’s ground offensive, a U.S. military official said Wednesday.

Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday he considered the U.N. Security Council “two-faced” for telling Turkey to open its borders while not moving “a finger to solve the Syria crisis” or to stop the Russian bombardments.

The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war.

Speaking for the group, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the results as a significant accomplishment but noted that a cessation-of-hostilities agreement, if it can be achieved, would only be a “pause” in fighting and that more work would need to be done to turn it into a full-fledged cease-fire.

“The (Syrian) regime and its allies can not pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them”, French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters.

On Thursday, Russia’s defense ministry also rejected a claim from the Pentagon that Russian planes had targeted hospitals in rebel-held Aleppo, accusing the US-led coalition of bombing the city instead.

“What Russia’s doing is directly enabling ISIL”, said Brett McGurk in reference to air strikes carried out by Moscow’s warplanes in and around Aleppo in support of the Damascus regime.

Tens of thousands of Syrians who fled the offensive were still stranded on Wednesday at the Oncupinar border crossing with Turkey, which remained closed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, addresses a reception next to his wife Emine Erdogan at his palace in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016.

Turkey, already home to about 3 million refugees – including more than 2.5 million Syrians – is providing assistance to the new wave of refugees at displaced persons camps on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey meanwhile is building up infrastructure near the its border with Syria, though its intent is unclear.

A focal point for the group is the Russian proposal for a cease-fire in Syria, where a Russian-backed Syrian offensive in Aleppo has worsened a humanitarian crisis by forcing thousands of civilians to flee towards the Turkish border.

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“Azaz district has seen some of the heaviest tolls of this brutal war, and yet again we are seeing health care under siege”, said Muskilda Zancada, the head of MSF’s Syria mission.

Kurdish forces also reportedly transferred several Sunni Arab families fleeing the fighting in Aleppo to safety in the YPG-held city of Afrin.

Russian Federation is the closest ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and Turkey’s prime minister is calling world leaders to denounce that Russian Federation is “mercilessly bombing civilian targets” in Syria.

The ministry vehemently denied accusations that civilians had been targeted in the strikes, saying that “Russian aviation and Syrian government forces will never launch strikes on the civilian population”.