UN Sends Aid to Syria, Turkey Calls for Ground Operation

Local Editor

UN convoys delivering aid to thousands of besieged Syrians were due to set out Wednesday, but hopes for lasting peace dimmed the day after Turkey called for a ground operation in its war-torn neighbor.

A spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian affairs office said that Syria's government approved access to seven besieged areas, including the city of Madaya where dozens of people are thought to have died from starvation.

Speaking in Damascus, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said aid convoys will be sent Wednesday in what will be a test of whether the warring parties will allow in humanitarian supplies.

Meanwhile, the UN estimated that almost half a million people in Syria are in areas under siege after almost five years of war in the country.

Relatively, a Red Crescent source said the first convoys will head for the rebel-besieged villages of Fuaa and Kafraya in the north, and to Madaya and Zabadani.

Syria's envoy to the UN Bashar Jaafari Tuesday also warned that "a ceasefire would take much longer than a week".

In parallel, a senior Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul: "We want a ground operation with our international allies," adding that: "Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria."

On the other side, Turkey has also been locked in its own war with Kurdish fighters in the north of Syria, which it believes are allied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] that has waged an insurgency on its soil for decades.

For his part, Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez told reporters the 15 council members "expressed concern about the Turkish attacks in northern Syria" and will "ask Turkey to comply with international law."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team