Syria aid convoys prepare to head to besieged areas

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday said he did not think the necessary conditions could be met within a week.

Although the “cessation of hostilities” doesn’t seem imminent, the United Nations announced progress on another key issue: Aid convoys have been able to deliver badly needed humanitarian supplies to five besieged areas of Syria in the past 24 hours.

Moscow rejected any responsibility and Syria’s United Nations envoy, Bashar al-Jaafari, on Tuesday said MSF was responsible because it was not coordinating with the government.

The deal was established by global powers on Friday, though neither Assad nor the Syrian opposition formally signed off on it. The deal was supposed to allow humanitarian aid to be sent to Syria and commence peace negotiations.

The UN has demanded unhindered access to all besieged areas of the country, where it says hundreds of thousands of people are trapped by fighting and deliberate blockades by Syria’s various warring sides.

Davutoglu said on Thursday that Turkey “can’t excuse any North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, including the U.S.” of having “links with a terrorist organization that strikes us in the heart of Turkey”.

Turkey has long pressed for a safe zone inside Syria, backed up by a no-fly zone, and has warned Kurdish forces it will not allow them to seize Azaz, which is held by rebel forces. Syrian government troops who have besieged dozens of rebel-held communities over the past three years are moving toward their biggest target yet–opposition-controlled neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo, where some 300,000 civilians risk being trapped.

Hillo said supplies for 20,000 people were to be delivered to the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwestern Idlib province, which are surrounded by rebels. Convoys of food, medicine and other assistance reached the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani, northwest of the capital, while a 35-truck convoy was to deliver aid to the rebel-held suburb of Moadamiyeh southwest of Damascus.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov shrugged off Merkel’s proposal, saying it would require Damascus’ consent and U.N. Security Council approval.

The U.N. estimates that 18 Syrian communities are besieged, affecting around half a million people.

More than 400,000 people are living in besieged areas in Syria, he said. State-run media in Syria reported criticism of De Mistura, quoting an official as saying Syria does not “wait for anyone to remind us of our duties towards our people”.

“Syria does not accept the proposal by the German chancellor [on possible establishment of a no-fly zone in the country’s north], which is interference in Syria’s domestic affairs, violation of its sovereignty, the principle of inviolability of borders and totally contradicts worldwide law and the UN Charter”, the statement said.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov also branded Turkish authorities “liars” over claims the Kremlin is deliberately targeting Syria’s civilian population in its airstrikes.

“This marks a major humanitarian breakthrough in Syria, but we must remember that one-off and sporadic convoys can only provide temporary relief to hungry, desperate people”, WFP Syria Country Director Jakob Kern said in a news release.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman said that around 500 Islamist fighters who came from the north-western province of Idlib have crossed the Bab al-Salamah border crossing between Syria and Turkey.