The uncertainty cast doubts on a U.S. The Syrian army, according to the report, vowed to “continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability”.
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Syrian or Russian aircraft struck an aid convoy near Aleppo on Monday and killed 12 people, according to a war monitor, as the Syrian military declared a one-week truce brokered by the the United States and Russia over.
Though the US State Department did not directly lay blame for the attack, it said in a statement that the attack was an “egregious violation” of the ceasefire and would force it to reassess whether it will continue to cooperate with Russian Federation.
The Syrian military said in a statement Monday that “armed terrorist groups” repeatedly violated the cease-fire and took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas.
“The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian federation and yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people”, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.
“What happened today has dealt a serious blow to efforts to bring peace to Syria”, said a senior U.S. administration official, who added that the strike “raises very serious questions about whether the Russians can deliver their end of the arrangement” to rein in the Syrian regime.
“Either way the burden is on the Russians to demonstrate quickly and in a significant way that they are committed to this process”, a second administration official said, adding that it was unclear whether the bombing was by the Russians or Syrian government.
A Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse was also hit, the United Nations said. “The humanitarian aid never reached any of the areas. This week was supposed to bring some humanitarian aid, but what happened instead was the displacement of populations”.
The breakdown in the cease-fire is the latest in a long trail of American diplomatic initiatives that have failed to stem the killing in a civil war that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and drawn criticism that Washington has ceded a key pillar of its Middle East policy to Moscow. It also threatens to undercut what is likely to be President Barack Obama’s last-ditch effort to do some good in Syria before his term ends.
Earlier in the day, Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that the truce was “holding but fragile”. Otherwise, he warned, the war will restart, and “we will enter an even worse spiral of violence”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims the attack was carried out by Syrian or Russian jets, and that 12 Red Crescent drivers were killed in the attack.
No details were immediately available on the strike, but the second U.S. administration official said it was clearly an air attack and that US-led coalition jets weren’t responsible. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone.
The details of the U.S. Aid delivery to Aleppo is part of the U.S. -Russia cease-fire deal. But the terms would require the warring parties, including Syria, to silence their guns for seven days and permit unimpeded access to United Nations convoys delivering badly need food and supplies to needy Syrians in eastern Aleppo.
United Nations aid chief Stephen O’Brien said initial reports indicated many people had been killed or seriously wounded, including SARC volunteers, and that if the “callous attack” was found to be deliberate, it amount to a war crime.
In the end, bombs have kept falling, and the humanitarian corridors have stayed largely shut.
An official with the Syrian Red Crescent said aid trucks operated by the group and destined for a rebel-held area in Aleppo province had been hit by an airstrike, as warplanes resumed their bombings in Aleppo province. However, he also repeated calls for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo and other besieged communities.
The aid trucks were the first of the shipments to be sent into the rebel-held eastern area of Aleppo, with more than 2750,000 civilians trapped without food or medical supplies.
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Earlier this month, Syrian government forces and their allies captured areas they lost south of the city, re-imposing a siege on its opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. “None of that happened”, she said. The official added that Kerry is in close coordination with the White House.
