U.S. and Russia Extend Cease-Fire, No Aid Delivered Yet

The U.S. and Russia have agreed to extend the cessation of hostilities in Syria for an additional 48 hours, saying the truce is largely holding, Al Jazeera reported.

Despite no aid having yet made its way into besieged areas, which the cease-fire was supposed to facilitate, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed on Wednesday to extend the truce.

While no deaths have been reported within the first 48 hours of the truce, the U.N. has still not made any aid deliveries, with 20 aid trucks still waiting at the Turkish border.

“I’ve urged the Russian government to make sure that they exercise influence on the Syrian government, and also the American side to make sure that Syrian armed groups, they also fully cooperate,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch Accuses Turkey and Pro-Kurdish Forces of Civilian Deaths in Northern Syria

Turkey failed to accurately identify its targets in Syria, killing civilians, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.

The HRW statement confirmed the death of 24 civilians due to Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria in late August. Activists had reported these deaths, to which Turkish official media responded, saying 25 “terrorists” were killed.

Turkey intervened militarily in Syria last month to drive back so-called Islamic State (ISIS) militants from its border, and to target the YPG – the key Syrian Kurdish militia. The YPG is a key U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS, but Ankara has targeted Kurdish positions to thwart their aims at consolidating their territory in Syria. Turkey views the YPG in Syria as an extension of its own Kurdish insurgency, led by the PKK, that has been fighting for autonomy since the 1980s.

The HRW report also said pro-Kurdish forces could have taken measures to minimize civilian deaths, such as not taking positions in residential areas.

“Available information suggests that both sides could have done more to minimize civilian loss of life, as required by the laws of war,” HRW said in a statement.

Syrians Stuck in Desert Outside of Jordan Are Dying, Amnesty International Says

Syrians stuck outside the Jordanian border are dying in the desert, according to satellite images obtained by Amnesty International, the Washington Post reported.

More than 75,000 Syrians have been stuck in the desert outside Jordan for months, in an isolated zone known as “the berm.” Journalists have been denied entry to the berm, and aid was hindered after a cross-border attack claimed by ISIS killed Jordanian troops near the berm in June.

The settlements at the border have grown dramatically, as have the threats of death and disease, an Amnesty International report released on Wednesday said. At least 10 refugees have died from a hepatitis outbreak since June, and nine others died from childbirth-related causes, sources told Amnesty.

“The situation at the berm offers a grim snapshot of the consequences of the world’s abject failure to share responsibility for the global refugee crisis. The … effect of this failure has seen many of Syria’s neighbors close their borders to refugees,” said Tirana Hassan, crisis response director at Amnesty.

The last aid shipment allowed in was in early August, when U.N. agencies used a crane to deliver food and hygiene supplies across the border. It is not yet clear if and when Jordan will allow another shipment in.

Recommended Reads

• Newsweek: The Syrian Civil War Could Spell the End of Antibiotics
• The Economist: Why Syria’s War Is Concentrated in the North
• The New York Times: After Years of War, Celebrities Find a Syrian Group to Back
• The Washington Post: I Treated Kids in a Syrian Hospital. We Have No Idea How to Heal Their Trauma
• The New York Times: ‘All Syrians Are Tired of This Absurd War’: Voices From the Ground During the Cease-Fire