United Nations chief says time is running out for Syria talks

“You know very well and we know very well that approval does not mean delivery”.

The U.S. Department of State said Wednesday that Russian Federation has taken no “demonstrable steps” to support efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to besieged towns in Syria even though it has air assets in the country along with permission to use them.

Ban said Thursday that his special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has declined to set a date for a third round of talks because “the time is not yet mature”.

But, he stressed that Syria has given such approvals in the past before ultimately blocking convoys from distributing life-saving supplies.

Riad Haddad told the Russian State Duma the Syrian army will soon move towards the city and it will liberate it from all “terrorists” with the support of Russian Aerospace Defense Forces.

Foreign capitals have asked the World Food Program to plan an air bridge to save thousands of Syrian civilians facing starvation in communities besieged by Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Bashar Jaafari, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, on the other hand, previously rejected accusations that the government has ever been preventing aid deliveries in besieged areas.

Syria has been gripped by a foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.

The war has killed at least 260,000 people, according to the United Nations, and more than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 22.4 million has been internally displaced or fled overseas, according to Tasnim.