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UN set for Syria aid deliveries on third day of partial ceasefire First test for partial Syrian ceasefire after breaches reported on both sides
(35 minutes later)
The UN is poised to start delivering food, medicine and other supplies to more than 150,000 people under siege in Syria, as a fragile truce entered its third day. The Syrian ceasefire is facing its first serious test after France called for a meeting of the body responsible for its monitoring in the wake of serious breaches of its terms by Syrian and Russian forces on Sunday.
The office of the UN human rights chief said thousands of people risk starving to death in besieged towns and villages that are inaccessible to humanitarian aid groups. The ceasefire came into force on Saturday and was widely thought to have held on the first day, but the Syrian High Negotiating Council representing the hybrid group of rebels said breaches of the ceasefire nullified the process.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for a new meeting of a UN-backed taskforce overseeing the ceasefire “without delay” to evaluate a range of potential breaches. The taskforce drawing together the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) will meet in Geneva at the request of the French to examine the alleged breaches to see if they were deliberate breaches, the product of different misinterpretations of the ceasefire, or military error.
“We have received indications that attacks, including air strikes are continuing in areas controlled by the moderate opposition,” Ayrault said. “This must all of course be verified. France has therefore asked that the task force overseeing the implementation of the cessation of hostilities meets without delay.” “We have received indications that attacks, including by air, have been continuing against zones controlled by the moderate opposition,” French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.
The umbrella body that brings together rebel factions earlier described the partial ceasefire as positive but lodged a formal complaint with the UN and foreign governments about breaches. “All this needs to be verified. France has therefore demanded that the task force charged with overseeing the cessation of hostilities meet without delay.”
“We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable,” said Salem al-Meslet, a spokesman for the Saudi-backed high negotiations committee, AFP reported. A spokesman for the Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said the cessation of hostilities was broken by Syria’s government 15 times within the first day, and that there were further violations by Russia and Hezbollah, both allies of president Bashar al-Assad.
Meslet said the opposition would like to see the truce “last for ever” and that it was the “responsibility of the United States to stop any violations”. The countries belonging to the ISSG, led by the United States and Russia, are supposed to monitor compliance with the deal and act rapidly to investigate any breaches, using force only as a last resort. The Americans and the Russians have separate ceasefire monitoring operations and arguably different interpretations of the territories that are subject to the ceasefire.
An HNC letter to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, accused the Syrian regime and its allies of committing “24 violations with artillery shelling and five ground operations … in 26 areas held by the moderate opposition”. All sides have agreed that fighting against Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front – deemed to be a Syrian franchise of al-Qaida – are excluded from the ceasefire. Some Syrian rebels supported by the west fight alongside al-Nusra.
It said breaches of the ceasefire had killed 29 people and wounded dozens. The HNC has said it did not receive any maps of areas included in the ceasefire or documents explaining the monitoring mechanism. Syria’s Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, said those maps were still being kept secret. But HNC spokesman Salim al-Muslat said it was still unclear how the system was supposed to function.
The ceasefire does not apply to territory held by Islamic State and the al-Qaida affiliated al-Nusra Front. Isis last week cut the government’s sole supply route to territory it holds in and around Aleppo, Syria’s second city. After several days of clashes, the army succeeded in reopening it on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported. Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the HNC’s delegation to peace talks, said on Monday that the cessation of hostilities had collapsed before it started and it faced “complete nullification”, Al Arabiya al Hadath TV reported.
State TV said government forces were clearing mines from the road, which runs through the town of Khanaser. The government has been using the Khanaser road to reach Aleppo because rebels control the main highway to the city further west. “We need to get an explanation from the Russians on the strikes that took place on Sunday,” said one western diplomat.
With the truce largely holding, the UN plans to deliver aid over the next five days. The assistance will include food, water and sanitation supplies, non-food items, nutrition, medicine and health supplies to people trapped in besieged areas. In a bid to calm the atmosphere, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that the cessation was largely holding but that major and regional powers were looking into some incidents that he hoped would be contained.
“By and large the cessation of hostilities is holding, even though we have experienced some incidents,” Ban told reporters in Geneva after talks with his envoy Staffan de Mistura and before a meeting of the ISSG.
“But the task force and all other members of this ISSG are now trying to make sure that this does not spread any further and this cessation of hostilities can continue.”
De Mistura is hoping to reconvene peace talks in Geneva next Monday but the progress of the ceasefire will determine whether even proximity talks get underway next week.
In a sign of how the talks might develop it was suggested Syria could become a federal state if that model works in the country. The suggestion was made by Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov at a news briefing as a way of resolving arguments about whether Assad would remain in power. Ryabkovalso warned there were signs that Turkey, on the northern border of Syria, was still preparing attacks
The UN is also poised to start delivering food, medicine and other supplies to more than 150,000 people under siege in Syria, as the office of the UN human rights chief said thousands of people risk starving to death in towns and villages that are inaccessible to humanitarian aid groups.
The UN plans to deliver aid over the next five days. The assistance will include food, water and sanitation supplies, non-food items, nutrition, medicine and health supplies to people trapped in besieged areas.
Retuers reported that the first delivery would go to rebel-held Muadhamiya, south-west of Damascus, on Monday.Retuers reported that the first delivery would go to rebel-held Muadhamiya, south-west of Damascus, on Monday.
Pending approval from parties to the conflict, the UN said it was ready to deliver aid to an estimated 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first three months of this year through UN inter-agency convoys. It called on all parties to ensure unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to 4.6 million people in hard-to-reach or besieged locations across Syria as well an immediate lifting of all sieges of towns where about 500,000 people are trapped.Pending approval from parties to the conflict, the UN said it was ready to deliver aid to an estimated 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first three months of this year through UN inter-agency convoys. It called on all parties to ensure unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to 4.6 million people in hard-to-reach or besieged locations across Syria as well an immediate lifting of all sieges of towns where about 500,000 people are trapped.
“The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges, which deprive civilians of essential goods such as food,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights chief, in an address to the human rights council in Geneva.“The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges, which deprive civilians of essential goods such as food,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights chief, in an address to the human rights council in Geneva.
During his address, al-Hussein said “thousands of people may have starved to death”, but his office issued a statement shortly afterwards indicating that he meant to say “thousands risk starving to death”.During his address, al-Hussein said “thousands of people may have starved to death”, but his office issued a statement shortly afterwards indicating that he meant to say “thousands risk starving to death”.
A successful truce could pave the way for more meaningful peace talks that collapsed in early February as a Russia-backed regime offensive in northern Syria caused tens of thousands to flee. The UN envoy Staffan de Mistura aims to restart the talks on 7 March if the ceasefire lasts and more aid is delivered.
Russia, which has swung the war in favour of Bashar al-Assad with a five-month bombing campaign, accused moderate rebels and jihadis of nine ceasefire violations. But Lt Gen Sergei Kuralenko, head of Moscow’s coordination centre in Syria, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that on the whole the ceasefire was being implemented.
In Aleppo, the SOHR reported some rebel rocket fire on government-held neighbourhoods early on Monday but no casualties. Children strolled to schools in the city without hugging walls for fear of airstrikes or rocket fire, an AFP correspondent reported.
“Our teachers used to forbid us from going out to the school yard because of the airstrikes but today we went out and played,” said Ranim, a 10-year-old pupil at a primary school in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Kasr.
The SOHR reported nine Russian airstrikes on a town in the central province of Hama early on Monday but had no immediate word on any casualties.