Syria ceasefire extended
The United Nations yesterday urged Syria's government to allow immediate aid deliveries to hunger-stricken civilians after a fragile ceasefire was extended for 48 hours by Russia and the United States.
In a sign of renewed tensions between the two powers, who back opposing sides in the conflict, key regime ally Moscow accused Washington of failing to meet its obligations under the truce.
The UN said 20 trucks loaded with aid had crossed into a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria, voicing hope the supplies could be delivered to besieged rebel-held districts of Aleppo city today.
The ceasefire deal calls for the demilitarisation of the key Castello Road into the city, and Russia yesterday said that Syrian armed forces were "fulfilling their obligations and have started a gradual withdrawal" from the route.
Washington said late Wednesday that US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had spoken and agreed to prolong the ceasefire which began on Monday.
But hours later Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov slammed the US for what he called "rhetorical fog" intended "to hide the fact that it is not fulfilling its part of the obligations".
"As of the third day (of the truce), only the Syrian army is observing the regime of silence. At the same time, the 'moderate opposition' led by the US is increasing the amount of attacks on residential districts," Konashenkov said.
Moscow accused rebels of violating the truce 60 times since it came into force.
The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura yesterday said that the truce was holding "by and large".
But promised authorisation from Damascus for large-scale humanitarian convoys had not yet been received.
"This is something that is required to happen immediately," de Mistura told reporters in Geneva.
The truce, agreed after marathon US-Russia talks in Geneva last week, is part of the latest bid to end a five-year conflict that has killed more than 300,000 people.
It aims to halt fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebel factions, but does not include jihadists like the Islamic State group (IS).
The deal calls for the truce to be renewed every 48 hours, and for Washington and Moscow to begin unprecedented joint targeting of jihadists like IS and former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front if it lasts a week.
There remains deep scepticism about whether the truce will hold.
The opposition has yet to officially sign the deal, and hours before the ceasefire began Assad said he was committed to recovering all of Syria.
If the deal does hold, it could open the door to new peace talks to resolve the conflict, with Russia saying the UN envoy could invite government and opposition representatives to new talks "at the very beginning of October".
Meanwhile, Russia's top army general was yesterday holding talks with his Turkish counterpart on the conflict in Syria.
Turkish chief of staff Hulusi Akar welcomed his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov to Ankara in a ceremony with full military protocol, Turkish television pictures showed.
Gerasimov's presence in Ankara is also a significant symbol of healing ties between the two countries, after they agreed to normalise relations in June following a months-long crisis over the shooting down of a Russian war plane.
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