Breakdown of US-Russia Talks to Set Back Syria Aid: UN
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The collapse of US-Russian peace efforts in Syria would be a setback for United Nations aid operations, Stephen O'Brien, the UN emergency relief coordinator, told Reuters on Friday.
Asked about remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that it was close to suspending talks with Russia on a ceasefire in Syria, O'Brien said, "Any breakdown is going to set us back."
He said he hoped major powers on the Security Council would find "common will" to end the carnage and restore a cessation of hostilities, and at a minimum a 48-hour weekly humanitarian pause was needed to reach eastern Aleppo on "UN terms".
O'Brien said he expected the Syrian government to respond on Friday to the UN proposed plan to deliver food and other goods to 960,000 people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria during October.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
