EU welcomes Syria ceasefire, urges aid access

Zagreb, March 6: EU countries on Friday gave a cautious welcome to a Russian-Turkish ceasefire in Syria as a sign of goodwill but urged the warring parties to allow in more humanitarian aid.

Foreign ministers from the 27 EU states are meeting for talks in Zagreb on the crisis in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, where Ankara is battling Moscow-backed government forces.

A ceasefire came into force at midnight aiming to halt intense fighting that has sparked a humanitarian crisis and raised fears of Turkish and Russian armies clashing — and it appears to be holding. “For sure I am pleased for the ceasefire, the ceasefire is good news. At least it’s goodwill — let’s see how it works,” Josep Borrell said as he arrived for talks. Nearly a million civilians have fled their homes due to the fighting in Idlib, with the United Nations describing it as the worst humanitarian emergency since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

“It is important now to concentrate on humanitarian aid and I would welcome if Russia would respect the concept of humanitarian aid corridors to be widened,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. Ireland’s Simon Coveney said there was “relief” among EU countries at news of the ceasefire. “But there’s still an extraordinary humanitarian challenge that I

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think we all face in terms of the sheer numbers of refugees that had been displaced because of the conflict there,” Coveney added.

Some EU countries, notably the Netherlands, have called for a no-fly zone over Idlib to stop the regime bombing civilian targets. “EU countries are willing to provide humanitarian aid to Idlib. The challenge is to get aid into the area and that’s where the ceasefire might help. A no-fly zone might help even more,” Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.

But the EU has no power to implement or enforce such a measure and officials are privately sceptical. “We all know this would need UN mandate, would you get that?” a senior EU official said, alluding to Russia’s right of veto at the UN Security Council.

“A no-fly zone always sounds nice but needs to be militarily enforced. Who would do that?” Intense fighting has killed dozens of Turkish soldiers in Idlib in recent weeks, as Ankara launched a direct offensive against Syrian President Bashar alAssad’s forces for the first time.

THE CEASEFIRE came into force at midnight aiming to halt intense fighting that has sparked a humanitarian crisis and raised fears of Turkish and Russian armies clashing — and it appears to be holding.