UN blames all sides after Syria evacuation plan fails

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Monday blamed all sides in Syria after it failed to secure agreement to evacuate critically injured and sick Syrians from Aleppo.

UN aid agencies, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the Red Cross and other medical groups held days of negotiations to try to secure safe passage for the sick and wounded, but the effort came to

“It is deeply regrettable that no patients or accompanying family members could be moved,” said Stephen O’Brien, the UN’s humanitarian aid coordinator.

In Moscow, meanwhile, the Russia’s military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Russian and Syrian planes have not conducted any air strikes on Aleppo for the past seven days despite a three- day truce ending at the weekend.

“Over the last seven days all flights by Russian and Syrian air forces have been completely halted. The planes are not going near the city and not carrying out strikes,” said Konashenkov in a statement on Tuesday. Russia also said that six passages for civilians to leave rebel-held east Aleppo are still functioning and that 48 women and children left late Monday.

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that air strikes hit the opposition- controlled district of Sheikh Saeed After the humanitarian pause ran out at 1600 GMT on Saturday.

According to the UN’s humanitarian aid coordinator, the evacuations were “obstructed by various factors, including delays in receiving the necessary approvals from local authorities in eastern Aleppo.”

Armed groups imposed condi- tions to guarantee the safety of the evacuation operation while the Syrian government refused to allow medical and other aid supplies into the rebel-held east of the city, O’Brien added.

Russia, Syria’s main ally in the war against opposition rebels and jihadists, last week declared a humanitarian pause in the assault on eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 civilians have been trapped.

“After three days of lull, parties to the conflict have still not agreed, military operations have resumed and violence is now escalating,” said O’Brien in a statement.

“The political and military paths are trumping basic humanity once again in Syria.”

On Monday, Russia ruled out blamed rebel groups for blocking the medical evacuation.

“Over the last three days, what was needed did not happen,” said Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister.

To renew the pause, “our opponents must ensure appropriate behavior by the anti-government groups that in particular sabotaged the medical evacuation that was intended during the humanitarian pause,” he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon last week said nearly 500 people had been killed and about 2,000 injured during the nearly month- long bombing raids in Aleppo.

No UN aid convoy has entered Aleppo since July 7 and food rations will run out by the end of October, he warned.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria and more than half of the country’s population in March 2011 with anti-government protests.