Roundup: UN urges urgent aid and safe access to restive Aleppo

UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is arriving Sunday in the capital Damascus for a brief meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

Mistura is expected to discuss a recently-proposed UN humanitarian plan with the Syrian government. The plan is said to have focused on delivering humanitarian help to the affected people in the rebel-held part of the northern city of Aleppo, where as many as 250,000 people are suffering.

A day earlier, the UN said it was appalled by the intensifying battles in Aleppo.

The government-imposed siege on Aleppo and the rebels' grip in that region have made civilians in dire need for humanitarian assistance, the UN statement said, adding that the UN is ready to assist the civilians there once granted access by all parties in accordance to a plan put forward by the UN.

"The UN has shared with all parties to the conflict in Aleppo and member states concerned a detailed humanitarian plan to provide urgently needed assistance to the inhabitants of east Aleppo, and conduct medical evacuations for the ill and injured," according to the statement.

It highlighted the need for all parties to accept the plan and provide safe access to the affected people in eastern Aleppo.

However, the visit of Mistura comes amid tension with Damascus against the backdrop of remarks he made recently, according to the local al-Watan daily.

The pro-government paper said the visit of Mistura is going to be brief, adding that he will meet with al-Moallem, who will hold a press conference alone after the meeting.

The paper said the recent remarks of Mistura were "unbalanced and provocative."

In an interview with the Guardian, Mistura warned that a total military victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rather than a negotiated peace deal will leave Syria and Europe exposed to resurgent Sunni terrorism, as in Iraq.

"Solely concentrating on a military victory will lead to a pyrrhic victory followed by a long-term, low intensity, but extremely painful guerrilla war, in which Syrians continue to die," he told the Guardian.

Such warning is seen as a diplomatic advice to the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who said he would work with Russia to defeat the terrorists in Syria, which meant a stronger position for Assad.

The al-Watan paper said that Damascus has postponed several visits of Mistura, and the brief visit granted for him on Sunday reflects Damascus discontent with his "biased stances which diverted from the nature of his job as a mediator."

The paper said the UN and Mistura were in uncomfortable situation, following the achievements of the Syrian army in Aleppo, the focal point of all recent discussions on Syria.

Battles and intense shelling have continued in Aleppo for six days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said six people of one family were killed Sunday by Syria shelling, rising thus the number of those killed in Aleppo over the past 24 hours to 55.

The official media outlets in Syria also reported relentless rebel shelling on residential areas in Aleppo, which resulted in an undisclosed number of casualties.

The Observatory pointed out that as many as 5,100 people have been killed in Aleppo in the last two months, as a U.S.-Russian-sponsored truce failed to bring a prolonged peace in the city.

For months, the Syrian government and Russia have been urging rebels to leave Aleppo, offering them safe passages to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebels, however, turned down all offers, which has resulted in intensified violence. Endit