Aleppo rebels agree aid plan, Russia, Syria yet to approve: U.N.

Special advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Jan Egeland addresses a news conference after a meeting of the Task Force for Humanitarian Access at the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse


GENEVA Syrian armed opposition groups in besieged east Aleppo have agreed to a U.N. plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations, but the U.N. is waiting for a green light from Russia and the Syrian government, humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday.


Some 275,000 people are trapped in east Aleppo, where the last U.N. food rations were distributed on Nov. 13. Trucks are ready in Turkey and west Aleppo to bring aid, but the U.N. needs 72 hours to prepare the "big, complex and dangerous operation".


"We hope to have a full green light from both the Russian side and Syrian government side. The signal today from the Russia side was positive," Egeland told reporters. "In many ways Plan B is that people starve. That cannot be allowed to happen."


(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Larry King)

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