Food Aid Reaches Daraya, as Government Approves Aid Convoys to All Besieged Areas

The besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya on Thursday received its first food aid delivery since government forces encircled it in 2012.

The delivery was made hours after Bashar Assad’s government granted humanitarian access to 15 of the 19 besieged areas across the country.

It was made in a coordinated mission by the Syrian Red Crescent and the United Nations’ humanitarian agency, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier this month, the first humanitarian aid delivery into Daraya carried basic medical materials and “nutritional items for children,” but no food.

U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, announced on Thursday that the government had given approval for humanitarian convoys to enter all the country’s besieged areas by the end of the month, but warned that “approval … does not mean delivery.”

More than half a million people live in 19 besieged areas across the country, according to U.N. estimates.

French Special Forces on Ground in Syria

French special forces are on the ground in northern Syria, advising rebel forces in their fight against the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS) near the border town of Manbij, a French army spokesman said on Thursday.

France’s defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that his country is providing U.S.-backed Kurdish rebel groups with aerial support and weaponry, Reuters reported.

“We never go into details about anything to do with special forces, which are by their nature special. You won’t get any details, to protect these men’s activities,” army spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said at a news briefing.

No Peace Talks for Now: De Mistura

Geneva peace talks aimed at finding a political end to the war in Syria will not take place before all sides agree to plans for a real political deal on transition, which has a deadline of August 1, U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday.

“I have informed the Security Council just a few days ago … The time is not yet mature for the official third round of the intra-Syrian talks,” he told reporters. “Why? Because we are aware that a third round needs to be a concrete one.”

De Mistura said that a series of technical meetings will take place in different cities, concerning the role of the Syrian army and governmental institutions following any political deal, Reuters reported.

“The first of August is attainable, should be attainable and we should be aiming at that one,” he said.

Regarding the future of detainees, a key focus of the opposition, the envoy said he had discussed plans with Russia to release a “substantial number” of fighters detained by the government since the beginning of the five-year conflict.

Recommended Reads:

• BuzzFeed: Russia Is Recruiting the U.S.’s Rebel Allies in Syria
• The Guardian: Freed Journalist on Syria’s Agony: ‘Wars Without Witnesses Are the Worst Kind’
• Bellingcat: Proliferation of MANPADS in Syria – Relevant Actors and Applicable Treaties for Policymakers
• The Week: What It’s Like to Be One of the few Doctors Left in Syria
• NPR: Bashar Assad’s Defiance Points to a Syrian Peace Effort in Tatters