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Conflict in Syria

UN needs guarantees to forward relief convoy to Aleppo — diplomat

The UN may forward a humanitarian convoy to the eastern district of Aleppo as early as on September 23 but it needs guarantees of security, which it has not received so far

© EPA/SYRIA CIVIL DEFENSE / HANDOUT

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Russian defense ministry confirms US drone was present in area of attack on UN convoy

GENEVA, September 23. /TASS/. The UN may forward a humanitarian convoy to the eastern district of Aleppo as early as on Friday, September 23 but it needs guarantees of security, which it has not received so far, Jan Egeland, an advisor to the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Syria said on Thursday when a TASS correspondent asked him about it.

"The food expires on Monday," he said. "We are ready to go to East Aleppo tomorrow, but we do not have enough assurances from the sides."

Along with it, he made it clear the likelihood of the convoy’s departure on Friday was small. "That would surprise me," he said. "But I don’t think we can."

He pointed out the difficulties linked to the convoy’s advance along Castello Road, saying the UN had received many warnings regarding that route.

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Egeland, who spoke at a news briefing earlier in the day, said eastern Aleppo had been encircled in the military sense and it was impossible to get there.

He said as many as forty trucks were ready to cross the Turkish-Syrian border, with the drivers sleeping in their cabins for about a week while the UN was awaiting security guarantees both from the Syrian government and from armed opposition groupings.

Egeland voiced indignation over the September 19 attack on a humanitarian convoy near Aleppo saying the action had cast doubts on the entire system of notifications on the delivery of humanitarian aid. If a strike was targeted at a convoy, the destination, route and stopover of which had been reported in detail in advance, the entire humanitarian effort was big question then, he said.

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Syrian conflict

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