U.N. Ready to Resume Aid Convoys in Syria

The United Nations is preparing to distribute aid in Syria again after suspending operations following a deadly attack on a humanitarian convoy on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

“The preparation for these convoys has now resumed and we are ready to deliver aid to besieged and hard-to-reach areas as soon as possible,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The United Nations continues to call for safe, unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to all Syrians in need, wherever they are,” according to the statement.

The U.N. halted all aid deliveries in Syria on Tuesday, calling for an immediate investigation into a devastating attack on a humanitarian convoy and an aid supplies warehouse in rural Aleppo that killed 20 people.

Several convoys are prepared to make aid deliveries “carefully and cautiously” on Thursday to unspecified areas, the U.N. envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura told the BBC. The convoys will not transport aid to Aleppo.

Aleppo Witnesses ‘Heaviest Airstrikes’ in Months

Opposition-held areas of Aleppo saw some of the most intense airstrikes in many months as raids targeted numerous areas in the city overnight, reported Reuters.

Warplanes hit several areas with “rockets, barrel bombs and heavy machine guns,” according to reports from the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Rebel groups and activists also accused the Syrian regime and Russia of dropping incendiary bombs, sparking fires across the city, reported Agence France-Presse.

“It was the heaviest airstrikes for months inside Aleppo city. It was very intense. In that area we didn’t see heavy fighting recently,” SOHR director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.

Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office for Fastaqim, an Aleppo-based rebel group, told Reuters it was the most intense attack since April. “There is no weapon they didn’t use,” he added.

A senior official for the Levant Front, another Aleppo-based opposition group, echoed Malahifji’s statement about the severity of the aerial attack. He said that 15 airstrikes alone hit two areas where his group was stationed.

Postponed Evacuation of Al-Waer to Resume Thursday

Some 120 rebel fighters and family members will be transferred out of al-Waer neighborhood in Homs, as the planned evacuation of the last rebel-held area in the city resumed Thursday, reported Reuters.

The opposition fighters and their families will be transported by bus to the northern countryside of Homs, according to the SOHR.

The evacuation is part of an agreement between the Syrian government and local opposition groups to permit the safe passage of rebel fighters to other opposition-held areas of Syria.

Opposition groups said the evacuation deals are part of the Syrian government’s strategy to “forcibly displace” civilians from rebel-held areas.

Hundreds of rebel fighters were originally scheduled to leave al-Waer Monday and head toward Idlib province, the opposition stronghold in northwestern Syria. The evacuation was postponed due to heightened security risks on the road to Idlib. “Neither the U.N. nor the regime was able to secure the route,” the SOHR said.

Several thousand fighters are believed to have remained in al-Waer, according to the SOHR.

Recommended Reads:

• BBC: Syria Aid Convoy Attack: What We Know
• The Independent: Syria Crisis: Read John Kerry’s Comments to the U.N. Security Council in Full
• The Wall Street Journal: U.S., Russia Spar Over Syria at U.N.
• The New York Times: Obama Administration Considers Arming Syrian Kurds Against ISIS
• The Washington Post: U.S. Calls on Russia and Syria to Ground All Aircraft in Northwest Syria