Assad government ‘rejects’ humanitarian aid from Turkey en route to Aleppo without Damascus approval

Aid will not be permitted to enter the besieged area of East Aleppo without co-ordination with Damascus and the United Nations, Syrian state media reported

A Syrian civil defence member and a volunteer carry a little girl rescued from under the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported airstrike on the rebel-held Salihin neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo, on September 10, 2016 (AFP)

Vitally needed aid supplies are being stopped from entering the Syrian city of Aleppo by the Assad government despite the terms of the new ceasefire, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has said.

Opening two corridors into the city to allow humanitarian assistance to reach East Aleppo’s approximately 300,000 besieged inhabitants was a major part of the ceasefire deal agreed with Russia and the US in Geneva last week.

An aid convoy of 30 trucks carrying food, children’s clothes and toys left neighbouring Turkey on Tuesday, Reuters and Turkish media reported.

Syria, angered by Turkey’s ongoing military operations against Isis in the north of the country, said that aid from Turkish sources is particularly unwelcome.

“Commenting on the Turkish regime’s statements highlighting its intention to send materials disguised as humanitarian aid to Aleppo city, the Syrian Arab Republic announces its rejection to allow such materials to enter no matter who provides them… without co-ordination with the Syrian government and the UN,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Turkey has hampered peace efforts by providing money and arms to rebel groups since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, they added.

Speaking to reporters in Washington DC on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the ceasefire talks had included “very specific arrangements” with the United Nations to enable the passage of aid to Aleppo.

Aid into Aleppo has been drying up in the last month as Syrian government forces have drawn closer, the United Nations said, and the city is dangerously close to running out of fuel.

The truce between government forces, backed by Russia, and the official Syrian opposition, supported by the US, came into effect on Monday at sundown. While skirmishes have been reported across the country, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights says that no civilians have died since the uneasy peace began.

A previous US and Russian-brokered ceasefire negotiated in February broke down in a matter of weeks.

The long term-prognosis for peace in Syria, which has suffered five years of multi-sided civil war, is still unclear. In an Eid al-Adha address on Monday Assad vowed to retake the entire country from rebel factions.