PHOTO: UN envoy Staffan de Mistura “Syrian government promised permits for UN aid convoys. They have not been received”


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A ceasefire across Syria largely held for the fourth day on Thursday, but there was no movement towards aid for besieged opposition areas of Aleppo city, a central provision of the US-Russian agreement.

Two convoys of 20 trucks each from Turkey continued to be held up near the Turkish-Syrian border, more than two days after they tried to move towards Syria’s largest city. The trucks, which began their aborted journey on Tuesday, have enough food for 80,000 people for a month.

The UN estimates that about 250,000 people are in opposition-held areas of east Aleppo. The area was initially besieged by pro-Assad forces, supported by Russian airpower, in early July and then again last month after the Syrian military and foreign allies regained territory southwest of the city.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from the al-Castello Road, the sole route north of Aleppo into opposition districts, but rebels said that they had not seen any movement and that they would not pull back from their own positions nearby.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the US and Russia were expected to manage the pullback of forces from the road. However, he noted:

The Syrian government promised permits for UN aid convoys before the ceasefire….They have not been received. This is something that is required to happen immediately.

The chief advisor for humanitarian operations, Jan Egeland, carefully avoided placing all blame on the Assad regime and its main ally Russia.

The reason we’re not in eastern Aleppo has again been a combination of very difficult and detailed discussions around security monitoring and passage of roadblocks, which is both opposition and government….

Can grown men please stop putting bureaucratic roadblocks in place to stop aid workers doing their jobs to help civilians — wounded women and children?

The ceasefire continued to limit the death toll on Thursday. The pro-opposition Local Coordination Committees documented the killing of 50 people, but 27 of them were in areas in eastern Syria controlled by the Islamic State, which is excluded from the truce.

Of the other 23 deaths, nine were in Aleppo Province, most in the village of Tabara Kilish. The LCC said pro-Assad warplanes had carried out an attack which included cluster bombs.

Opposition activists also reported regime attacks from Aleppo, Homs, and Hama Province in the northwest to the Damascus suburbs to Daraa Province in the south. One site set out a list of 27 claimed violations of the ceasefire.

In the first detailed report on alleged violations, the Syrian Network for Human Rights profiled 28 attacks by pro-Assad forces in the initial 48 hours of the ceasefire.

A pro-regime website acknowledged Syrian Air Force strikes on northern Hama Province, albeit asserting that these were after rebels “fired several rockets”.

According to a military source in the Hama Governorate, the Syrian Air Force conducted airstrikes over the villages of Taybat Al-Imam, Souran, Kawkab, Al-Lataminah, and Kafr Zita.

The military source added that these airstrikes caused significant damage to the jihadist defenses, while also providing relief to the exhausted soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Both Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Syrian military have claimed scores of violations by rebels, albeit without any evidence to support the assertions.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday that the US was covering up rebel breaches:

Only the Syrian army has been observing the ceasefire regime, while the US-led “moderate opposition” has been increasing the number of shellings of residential quarters. Moreover, it appears that the “verbal curtain” of Washington is aimed at hiding the non-fulfilment of the US obligations.


Report: Turkish-Supported Rebels Turn Back US Special Forces Near Border

Pro-opposition media and activists say Turkish-supported rebels have turned back US special forces who tried to join them in al-Rai in northern Syria.

About 25 American troops crossed the Turkish border and entered the town, taken from the Islamic State two weeks ago after Turkey intervened with air and ground forces alongside the rebels. However, they were told that they were not welcome.

Rebels are wary of the US personnel because of the American priority of support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces since last autumn.

The Turkish-backed offensive has taken some territory from the SDF, amid rivalry between the rebels and the Kurdish militia YPG for control of northern Syria.


Turkish and Russian Militaries in “Fruitful” Discussions

Turkish military sources have said that Thursday’s discussions between the head of the Turkish and Russian General Staffs were “fruitful”.

The Russian Chief of General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, met Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Ankara. The trip was originally scheduled for August 26, but was postponed amid Turkey’s military intervention alongside Syrian rebels in northern Syria.

The Turkish military sources said:

This positive development is believed to be important in regards that this will lead to a common perspective between the two countries for the solution of other problematic regions in the Middle East….The view that regional problems can only be resolved through joint initiatives of the regional countries among themselves has prevailed.

While no details were given, Turkey media portrayed the meeting as the military dimension of the “reconcilation” between Turkey and Russia after Ankara’s downing of a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border last November.

In late June, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a letter to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin expressing sorrow over the incident, and the two men met in Moscow last month. The two sides announced that regular consultations would be held between officials of the diplomatic, military, and intelligence services.


Claim: Kurdish militia YPG Raise US Flag over Border Town of Tal Abyad

Opposition activists claim that the Kurdish militia YPG have raised the US flag over the border town of Tal Abyad in northern Syria, with speculation that American forces are in the area.

us-flag-tal-abyad-2

The YPG led the capture of Tal Abyad, close to Turkey, in June 2015 as Kurdish-led forces pushed back the Islamic State.

Tension between the YPG and Syrian rebels has risen this year, as the Kurdish militia seized opposition territory in northwest Syria as well as leading the advance of the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS.

In late August, Turkey — which believes the YPG is linked to the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK — sent in military forces alongside rebels in northern Aleppo Province, to the west of Tal Abyad. The intervention has raised discussion of a “race” between the Turkish-rebel offensive and the YPG to seize areas still held by the Islamic State.

Thursday’s claims followed reports of a meeting between Turkish officers and rebels near Tal Abyad.

Artur Rosinski’s map:

tal-abyad-map-16-09-16