Aid Drops Suspended as Fighting Continues in Deir Ezzor

Fighting between the so-called Islamic State group and pro-government forces in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to suspend humanitarian aid drops in the area, Reuters reported.

“We put it on hold on Sunday,” WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said at a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

The United Nations agency made its last airdrop on Sunday. Since April, WFP has carried out 177 humanitarian aid drops for 110,000 people, Reuters reported.

Over the weekend, ISIS launched the biggest assault on Deir Ezzor that the eastern city has seen in a year. At least 82 people have been killed since militants began their operation, including 28 members of pro-government forces, at least 40 ISIS militants and 14 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted.

France to Support Syria Peace Talks in Kazakhstan

France will support the Russia- and Turkey-brokered Syrian peace talks due to take place later this month in Kazakhstan, Reuters reported.

French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said on Tuesday that foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had told his Turkish counterpart that France “confirmed its support for the announced objectives … and insisted on the importance of a large and credible opposition presence.”

On Monday, some Syrian rebel groups confirmed their participation in the peace talks. The factions will form a new delegation, headed up by Mohammad Alloush, a former Syrian rebel negotiator with the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee.

Nadal added that negotiations must be structured within the parameters of United Nations Security Council resolution 2254 and a Geneva communique, Reuters reported. Resolution 2254 calls for a “Syrian-led, Syrian-owned political transition to end the conflict.”

U.S. Increasing Supplies to Forces Fighting ISIS in Syria

The United States is amping up supply airdrops to forces fighting ISIS on the ground near the militants’ de-facto Syrian capital of Raqqa, USA Today reported.

“Our expanded precision airdrop capability is helping ground forces take the offensive to (ISIS) and efforts to retake Raqqa,” Gen. Carlton Everhart, commander of the Illinois-based Air Mobility Command, told USA Today.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces, have been advancing on Raqqa over the last few weeks, since the second phase of the operation Wrath of Euphrates began in early December. The U.S. is apparently supplying weapons, ammunition and other equipment to only the Arab contingent of the SDF to avoid increasing tension with Turkey, whose forces are fighting the Kurds, according to USA Today.

Last week, U.S. Special Operations troops carried out a raid near Deir Ezzor province against an ISIS vehicle. As many as 25 militants were killed in the operations, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Washington Post reported that some militants were taken captive for questioning.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• Associated Press: Mounting Frustration in Damascus Amid Widespread Water Cuts
• UNHCR: Joint Statement on Syria
• VOA News: Writings of Obscure American Leftist Drive Kurdish Forces in Syria
• Daily Star: Lebanon First to Return Looted Syria Artifacts
• Al-Monitor: Assyrian Family Shares Tale of Capture, Displacement