Turkey proposes sending int'l aid convoy to Aleppo

Turkey has proposed sending an international aid convoy to Aleppo, the long-besieged Syrian city where around 300,000 people are facing shortages of food, medication and other essential supplies, at a critical meeting held in Swiss city Lausanne with the U.S., Russia and neighboring countries to Syria.

"We made a proposal about it. [We said] we should send an international convoy made up of trailers carrying the flags of different countries and deliver humanitarian aid. This will have symbolic value and diminish the possibility of this convoy being attacked," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in a press conference after the Oct. 15 meeting.

Recalling the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy near northern Aleppo on Oct. 4, Çavuşoğlu suggested that forming an international convoy would reduce the risk of such attack. 
"First of all, every party should guarantee that those convoys do not get hit," he said.

The possibility of humanitarian aid is closely related to the settlement of a cease-fire of at least three days, Çavuşoğlu added, noting that the proposal for an international convoy found support from several parties at the meeting, especially from the U.N.'s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura. 

De Mistura previously appealed to save Aleppo, warning that the city faced total destruction and urging the Syria-based jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as al-Nusra, to leave the rebel-held east for civilians to get aid.

'Al-Nusra should leave Aleppo'

Çavuşoğlu also urged jihadist groups affiliated with al-Nusra to leave Aleppo, saying the parties had discussed the possibility of settling a cease-fire on the condition that al-Nusra's presence in the...