UN: Syria opposition agree to aid plan but Russia, Syria yet to approve

Syrian opposition forces in besieged Aleppo have agreed to a United Nations plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations, but the UN is awaiting a green light from Russia and the Syrian regime, humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said yesterday.

With freezing winter conditions setting in, about 275,000 people are trapped in east Aleppo, where the last UN food rations were distributed on 13 November. The White Helmets have said that opposition-held areas of Aleppo will run out of food in ten days.

Reuters reported that hundreds of trucks are ready in Turkey and government-controlled western Aleppo to bring food and medicines to the eastern sector, but the UN needs 72 hours once all parties agree to prepare a “big, complex and dangerous operation,” Egeland said.

“We do now have written approval in principle by the armed opposition groups of east Aleppo,” he told reporters, specifying that he was referring to opposition groups with whom the UN is in contact with.

These factions do not include rebels from Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front.

“We have verbal support also from the Russian Federation on our four-point plan. We need written support and we need unconditional support also from Russia and we are waiting still for the answer from the government of Syria.”

Egeland hoped the plan, which includes rotation of the 30 doctors still in eastern Aleppo, can be carried out “in the next few days.”

The siege and intense bombardment of east Aleppo, aggravated by renewed, frequent airstrikes on hospitals in the past week, have left residents even shorter of medicines, food and fuel.

Hundreds of wounded await evacuation for treatment under the plan, Egeland said.

Asked about any “Plan B”, he replied: “In many ways Plan B is that people starve. And can we allow that to happen? No, we cannot allow that to happen.”

An estimated 974,000 Syrians live in besieged areas, including 850,000 encircled by government forces and the rest trapped by Daesh militants and other rebels, the UN says.