Syrian cease-fire holds, but Aleppo still waits for aid
ALEPPO, Syria -- The Syrian cease-fire worked out by U.S. and Russia, now in its third day, is allowing a rare look at the remains of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
With no bombs falling, children ventured into the street on Wednesday, but 275,000 residents are still in dire need of food and medicine.
Monitors confirm they’ve recorded no deaths anywhere in Syria in the past 48 hours -- a major contrast to last week, when Russian and Syrian planes were dropping bombs onrebel-held Aleppo.
We drove into the government side of the city through suburbs shattered by fighting and heard the occasional rumble of artillery in the distance.
This cease-fire is not perfect, but it’s good enough that we found repair crews already out on the job, tackling the huge task of restoring power.
And on both sides of this divided city, the playgrounds were full of kids just being kids. The Turkish government sent a couple of aid trucks a short distance into Syria, but there’s been nothing where it’s most needed in Aleppo.
The city saw demonstrations on Wednesday, with opposition fighters and some local people making the point that they don’t want aid handouts -- they want the siege of their neighborhoods lifted.
Regardless, the United Nations has the first aid convoys ready to roll.
And there’s now a plan in the works, supported by both the US and Russia, to get all armed groups -- including the Syrian army -- to pull back from the main highway leading into Aleppo to let the trucks through.