A U.N. plan
to deliver aid to besieged Syrians is in peril.
BEIRUT — An international plan to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people living in besieged areas of Syria appeared to be in peril Monday with the deadline looming closer.
Doubts about the initiative, which is backed by the United Nations and involves airdrops of food and other humanitarian relief, have been growing since it elicited guarded praise initially. Russia, the U.S. and other outside forces involved in Syria’s civil war agreed this month to begin airdrops Wednesday if road convoys continued to be refused access.
But diplomats and analysts say Syria’s government is unlikely to permit airdrops when it shows little sign of relenting on road convoys.
That risks a fight in the war-torn country’s crowded airspace. Already, warplanes from at least a dozen nations — including the U.S. and Russia — fly missions over Syria, though with differing aims.
The issue underscores the faltering efforts led by Washington and Moscow to halt a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 and displaced millions.
Meanwhile, the chief opposition negotiator at nowstalled peace talks in Geneva announced his resignation this weekend.
In a statement released late Sunday, Mohammed Alloush expressed doubts about whether the talks would restart. He has criticized the government for refusing to release prisoners and permit aid to reach besieged Syrians.
The announcement is another blow to the peace initiative, which is backed by the U.S. and Russia even though the two powers remain divided over the conflict. Moscow backs President Bashar Assad and Washington funds and arms his opposition, but they still brokered a partial cease-fire that came into effect in February.
Last month, the opposition delegation to the talks, known as the High Negotiations Committee, suspended its participation because of alleged government violations of the truce. Fighting has surged in recent weeks.
On Monday night, a wave of airstrikes hit a rebel-held stronghold in northwest Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group counted 10 strikes on Idlib that it said killed at least 14 civilians. The group said it believed Russian jets were responsible. Others have reported higher death tolls.
U.N. officials have expressed alarm at the conditions facing the more than 500,000 Syrians in besieged communities. Most of those people are surrounded by pro-government forces.
On Friday, U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien criticized the Syrian government over the sieges. O’Brien said the U.N. had asked the government to grant access to 35 convoys in May. Only 14 were given unhindered access, he said.
He said the “continued use of siege and starvation as a weapon of war is reprehensible.”
Critics have repeatedly accused the U.N. of submitting to the government’s demands.
“The international community — through the U.N.’s operation in Damascus — has entered into a disastrous situation where they are allowing the Syrian government to dictate where the aid goes,” said James Sadri of The Syria Campaign, a nongovernment group that advocates for an end to the sieges.
Starting last month, airdrops coordinated by the World Food Program have brought food and other assistance to 110,000 in government areas of the eastern city of Deir al-Zour that are surrounded by Islamic State militants.
The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said this month that the government had permitted helicopters operated by its other key ally, Iran, to fly aid to rebel-blockaded towns in northwestern Syria.
So far, no areas besieged by the government have received airdrops.