Two convoys of aid for the Syrian city of Aleppo were waiting in no-man’s land on Wednesday after crossing the Turkish border, held up by security fears and disagreements between combatants on the third day of a ceasefire.
The convoys, each of around 20 trucks carrying mostly food and flour, set off from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, 40 km (25 miles) west of Aleppo, on Tuesday but made it little further than the Turkish customs post on the Syrian border.
The delay was a sign of the difficulties facing the ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russia on Friday with the aim of reviving talks on ending Syria’s civil war.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war through contacts on the ground, said it had recorded no deaths during the first 48 hours of the ceasefire, which came into effect on Monday night, although six civilians had died in Syrian strikes on hardline Islamists excluded from the truce.
On Wednesday evening, the US State Department said US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov had agreed it was holding and to extend it by 48 hours, part of a step-by-step process envisaged by the deal.
Russia said it was preparing for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to begin a staged withdrawal from an Aleppo road expected to be used for aid deliveries on Thursday.
Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters that rebel groups intend to comply with the plan to withdraw 500 meters from the Castello Road in order to make it a neutral space, but the government must also pull back.
The aid is badly needed. The United Nations estimates that well over half a million people are living under siege in Syria, whose five-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 11 million.

Aid for Syria waits on Turkish border as warring sides bicker

The convoys, each of around 20 trucks carrying mostly food and flour, set off from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu. (AP)
Reuters, Cilvegozu, Turkey/Beirut
Thursday 15 September 2016
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:48 - GMT 06:48
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