PHOTO: UN envoy Staffan de Mistura and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus on Tuesday


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  • Turkish President Erdogan: We Will Not Let Kurdish Militia Get Foothold on Border
  • Hospital Struck by Russia Kept Location Secret to Avoid Bombing
  • Opposition: US-Led Coalition Kills Up to 28 Civilians in Eastern Syria
  • WEDNESDAY FEATURES

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    UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said that the organization will “test” the Assad regime on aid to Syria’s besieged areas, following a meeting with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus on Tuesday.

    However, the regime has quickly rebuffed the envoy, leaving in doubt the claim that assistance will soon be approved.

    De Mistura said that regime approved access to seven besieged areas, with UN convoys moving into them within days.

    “It is clear it is the duty of the government of Syria to want to reach every Syrian person wherever they are and allow the UN to bring humanitarian aid,” de Mistura said in a statement. “Tomorrow we test this.”

    The Syrian Foreign Ministry responded sharply to the UN envoy, declaring that it would not “allow…de Mistura nor anybody else to talk about testing Syria’s seriousness in any matter”:

    Rather, the Syrian government is now in need to test the credibility of the UN Special Envoy whose statements, since the beginning of his mission to the mass media outlets, completely contradict to what happen in joint meetings with the Syrian government.

    State news SANA, in its report of the meeting, does not mention any agreement to deliver aid to the seven areas.

    The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the areas were:

    *The opposition-held areas of Zabadani and Madaya, where scores of people have died from starvation during an eight-month siege, northwest of Damascus;

    *The Damascus suburbs of Kafr Batna and Moadamiyah, with scores more deaths from malnutrition during a regime siege since late 2012;

    *Regime-held areas of Deir ez-Zor Province, where an estimated 200,000 people are surrounded by the Islamic State;

    *The regime enclaves of al-Fu’ah and Kafraya in Idlib Province, long surrounded by rebel forces.

    “Humanitarian agencies and partners are preparing convoys for these areas, to depart as soon as possible in the coming days,” OCHA said.

    “Surrender or Starve”

    The Syrian military has pursued a “surrender or starve” strategy on opposition-held areas across Syria since 2012, refusing to allow food or supplies until rebels gave up their arms.

    The approach has led to ceasefires in parts of Homs city and in Damascus suburbs, although in towns such as Moadamiya, the blockade has been maintained after the truces.

    Last year the Assad regime approved only 13 of 113 UN requests for access to besieged areas.

    In January, the regime briefly relented over convoys into Madaya after international attention grew to the deaths from starvation. However, only two deliveries — enough for food to the end of the month, according to residents — were allowed. Reports are circulating that people are again resorting to eating grass and leaves and survive. A Turkish aid agency said this week that it is trying to get seeds into the towns so residents can grow vegetables in small plots of land in front of their homes.

    Earlier this month, the UN’s attempt for “proximity talks” between the regime and an opposition-rebel bloc broke down after less than five days, in part because of the failure to act over the sieges. The opposition-rebel negotiators have said they will enter the proximity discussions without ceasefires and aid to the besieged areas.

    UN envoy de Mistura has scheduled a resumption of the talks for February 25.


    Turkish President Erdogan: We Will Not Let Kurdish Militia Get Foothold on Border

    President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared that Turkey will not let advancing Kurdish militia establish a foothold on the border in northern Syria, and that Ankara will continue shelling if threatened.

    Erdoğan said in a televised speech on Wednesday, “Today our rules of engagement may be just about responding to an armed attack against our country, but tomorrow if necessary those rules can be expanded to cover every threat.”

    Referring to the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, where the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK has camps, he asserted, “Nobody should doubt that. We will not allow the formation of a new ‘Qandil’ on our southern border.”

    Turkey contends that the PKK leads the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia.

    Erdoğan said he could not understand why the US, which has labelled the PKK a “terrorist organization”, has not done the same with the PYD and YPG: “We want to know: are your friends the YPG, PYD, or us.”

    Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said Turkey wants a secure area 10 km (6 miles) deep on the Syrian side of its border, including the town of Azaz, to prevent attempts to “change the demographic structure” of the area.

    A key town for the movement of men and supplies, Azaz has been called a “red line” by the Turkish Government. After the YPG attacked the town last Friday, the Turkish military began shelling Kurdish positions taken from the rebels, such as the Menagh airbase.

    “What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10 km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from clashes,” Akdogan said in a televised interview.


    Hospital Struck by Russia Kept Location Secret to Avoid Bombing

    An official at Médecins Sans Frontières says a hospital in northwest Syria, damaged by Russian airstrikes with 11 people killed and two missing, tried to prevent an attack by refusing to provide its location to the Syrian regime.

    Fabrice Weissman said on Tuesday that the Syrian doctors at the hospital in Maarat al-Num’an in Idlib Province that they were protecting themselves.

    Four missiles, in a “double-tap” strike designed to kill people gathering after the first attack, hit the MSF-supported hospital. Five staff and five patients were among the dead.

    Russian warplanes hit three other hospitals and two schools on Monday, killing about 50 people.

    See Syria Feature: Hospitals and Schools Close in Northwest After Russia’s Deadly Bombing
    Syria Videos and Pictures: Latest Russian Airstrikes on Hospitals and a School

    Syria’s Ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari, justified the attack on the Maarat al-Num’an hospital, by calling it a “branch of the French intelligence operating in Syria”: “They assumed the full consequences of their act, because they did not consult with the Syrian government and they did not operate with Syrian government permission.”

    Field hospitals have been targeted by the Syrian military since 2011. As a local activist notes, “The Assad air force and artillery understands a red cross or red crescent on a hospital or ambulance roof just as ‘target, thankfully clearly marked’.”


    Opposition: US-Led Coalition Kills Up to 28 Civilians in Eastern Syria

    Opposition sites say the US-led coalition has killed up to 28 civilians in airstrikes on town of al-Shaddadi, south of Hasakah city, in eastern Syria.

    The coalition was supporting a ground offensive by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces against the town, which is controlled by the Islamic State.

    The Local Coordination Committees say 17 people were killed, while the Eldorar site puts the toll at 28.

    The sites say one of the coalition missiles hit a bakery.