UN aid convoy reaches Syria’s Ain al-Arab as truce between army, SDF holds

Convoy carrying nutrient and substance reaches Kurdish-majority town, besides known arsenic Kobane, successful Aleppo province.

A United Nations convoy carrying “life-saving” assistance has arrived successful the Kurdish-majority municipality of Ain al-Arab successful bluish Syria arsenic a ceasefire statement betwixt the Syrian service and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continues to hold.

The convoy’s accomplishment successful Ain al-Arab, besides known arsenic Kobane, connected Sunday came amid increasing concerns astir humanitarian conditions successful the town, which has been surrounded by Syrian authorities forces.

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Electricity and h2o successful the municipality person besides been chopped disconnected for days.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the convoy consisted of 24 trucks carrying “life-saving aid, including fuel, bread, and ready-to-eat rations, to enactment radical affected by the caller developments”.

It said the convoy was coordinated with the Syrian government.

The Syrian service said successful a connection that it was opening 2 corridors, 1 to Ain al-Arab, located successful Aleppo province, and different to the adjacent Hasakah province, to let “the introduction of aid”.

Ain al-Arab, which has a colonisation of 400,000 people, is hemmed successful by the Turkish borderline to the northbound and authorities forces connected each sides. It is astir 200km (125 miles) from the SDF’s stronghold successful Syria’s acold northeast.

The SDF has accused the Syrian service of imposing a siege connected the town.

Clashes betwixt the 2 sides erupted earlier this period amid a quality implicit the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army. Under unit from the United States, the 2 sides agreed to a 4 time ceasefire past week, with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa giving the SDF until Saturday nighttime ‍to laic down arms and travel up with a program to integrate with the army, oregon to resume fighting.

The 2 sides extended the ceasefire by different 15 days connected Saturday.

Damascus said the renewed truce was intended to enactment a US cognition to transportation immoderate 7,000 detainees from the ISIL (ISIS) radical held successful prisons antecedently nether SDF power to facilities successful Iraq.

By Sunday night, however, the 2 sides were trading accusations of violations.

The Syrian service told authorities media that the SDF had targeted its positions with drones.

The SDF accused “Damascus-affiliated factions” of attacks astir Ain al-Arab, including 1 that killed a child.

The SD, which has mislaid ample areas of the state to the army, person present been restricted to Kurdish-majority areas successful the northeast and Ain al-Arab.

Residents of the municipality accidental it was afloat of radical who had fled the Syrian army’s advances successful the northeast successful caller weeks.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Qere Qozaq successful Aleppo province, said the accomplishment of the UN assistance convoy came amid reports of worsening humanitarian conditions successful Ain al-Arab.

“But these negotiated solutions, getting humanitarian assistance in, stay precise fragile, with some sides inactive primed to instrumentality to warring arsenic and erstwhile they consciousness it is needed,” helium said.

“Whether the ceasefire holds oregon not, whether the warring continues, these are each question marks. But determination is 1 certainty: arsenic agelong arsenic the warring carries on, rebuilding cannot happen,” helium added.

Ain al-Arab, which the SDF liberated from a lengthy siege by ISIL successful 2015, took connected symbolic worth arsenic their archetypal large triumph against the equipped group. It took different 4 years for the SDF, supported by a US-led planetary coalition, to decision ISIL territorially successful Syria.

Syria’s caller government, which took powerfulness successful 2024 aft the autumn of longtime person Bashar al-Assad, has demanded that the SDF disband.

The US, meanwhile, has said the intent of its confederation with the SDF has mostly ended.