Russian defense ministry says Syria truce violated 199 times so far

Following the increasingly public divide between the U.S State Secretary John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter over the Syria agreement between Russian Federation and the U.S., President Barack Obama gathered top national security aids on Friday including his secretaries of state and defense – with the shaky ceasefire set to dominate a meeting ostensibly about countering DAESH.

The provision of aid to what was Syria’s largest city before the war is a critical test of the ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation a week ago with the aim of reviving talks on ending the conflict.

Under the truce, fighting is to halt across the country except where jihadists are present.

But Russia said on Thursday the United States was using “a verbal smokescreen” to hide its reluctance to fulfil its part of the agreement, including separating what it called moderate opposition units from terrorist groups.

Syrian state television said the government forces had foiled a rebel attack.

Russian Federation said Syrian government troops had begun to withdraw from Castello Road on the outskirts of Aleppo – the route through which the trucks will pass – on Thursday but this has not been independently confirmed.

SANA says the shelling violates the cease-fire brokered by the US and Russian Federation that went into effect Monday.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister says the future of President Bashar Assad is an internal Syrian issue and the U.S. -Russia Syria agreement does not deal with it.

“That is what makes a difference for the people, apart from seeing no more bombs or mortar shelling taking place”, he said of the aid deliveries that are supposed to be part of the truce deal.

If the aid starts flowing and the cease-fire holds, the expectations are that such a climate would pave the way for the restart of Syria peace talks that collapsed earlier this year.

Russian Federation wants the truce deal agreed with the United States to be endorsed in a resolution by the UN Security Council when it meets next week. Aid is expected to enter rebel-held Aleppo later Friday, he said.

France, which backs the opposition, became the first USA ally to publicly question the deal with Moscow, urging Washington to share details of the agreement and saying without aid for Aleppo, it was not credible.

A general view taken on September 16, 2016, shows the rubble-strewn Castello Road, the main route for humanitarian assistance into the divided Syrian city of Aleppo.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office, said the aid convoys were awaiting assurances of safety in Syria’s volatile northwest.

Aleppo has been the center of fighting in recent months and Syrian government forces and their allies launched a wide offensive earlier this month, capturing several areas south of the city and putting eastern rebel-held neighborhoods under siege for the second time in two months.

“It is not possible for the party that wages war against a people to strive to achieve a truce, as it is also not possible for it to be a sponsor of this agreement while it bombs night and day, while on the other side, the other party – America – has the role of spectator”, he said.

Both sides have privately expressed doubts that the truce will hold.

“The secretary made clear that the United States will not establish the Joint Implementation Center with Russian Federation unless and until the agreed terms for humanitarian access are met”, Kirby said. SANA said the shelling violates the cease-fire.

Three civilians, including two children, were killed in air raids on Friday on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The Observatory said three rebel fighters and four members of the government forces were killed.

Jets also hit the group’s positions near Deir al-Zor, while Islamist rebel groups including Jabhat Fateh al-Sham battled Islamic State fighters in the Eastern Qalamoun mountains northeast of Damascus.

“This is one of the most serious violations of the cease-fire”, al-Shami said via Skype.