Al Arabiya , 11 November 2016 – Russia rejected a U.N. request to extend future ceasefires to permit the delivery of aid into Aleppo, as the international organization warned that it was delivering the last remaining food assistance.
Speaking in Geneva, Jan Egeland, the special adviser to the U.N. envoy for Syria, said the last time the over a quarter of million people inside east Aleppo received any humanitarian aid was at the beginning of July.
“The reports we have now from within east Aleppo is that the last food rations are being distributed as we speak. There will not be more to distribute next week. Some families have not had any distributions, families in need of relief, have not had any distributions for several weeks already,” Egeland said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that Egeland had sent a request for longer truces to get aid to the eastern area of the city that still hosts more than a quarter of a million people.
In a statement, the ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov said it was “against common sense” to extend the breaks in conflict “just for the sake of it, not to bring real help to peaceful civilians, but so that terrorists can better restore their battle worthiness.”