United States and Russian officers were meeting Monday in Geneva, but the Defense Ministry in Moscow said it would be “pointless” to continue the truce in the face of rebel violations.
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“This regime of calm was supposed to be a real opportunity to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement”, the army said in a statement.
“Despite continued attacks by the regime on opposition positions, we have witnessed a measure of reduced violence over the last week”, spokesman John Kirby said.
Washington said it was working to extend the truce but called on Russian Federation to first clarify the Syrian army’s statement that it was over.
Both the Syrian rebels, supported by the USA -led coalition, and Syrian government troops, backed by Russian Federation, accused each other of violating the ceasefire since it took effect last Monday.
Under the US-Russia deal, fighting would halt across Syria and humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians – particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 32 people were killed in dozens of air strikes launched in and around Aleppo after the truce officially came to an end at 1600 GMT.
USA ambassador Samantha Power expressed regret for the loss of life but dismissed the summoning of the Security Council as a “stunt”, accusing Moscow of “moralism and grandstanding” that was “uniquely typical and hypocritical”. President Bashar al-Assad called them the “latest example of flagrant American aggression against Syrian army positions in the interests of the terrorist organisation Daesh [IS]”.
The truce brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov went into effect last Monday and meant to suspend the civil war for a week while allowing aid deliveries into rebel-held areas.
He referred to a 20-truck convoy, the first of two that would have carried flour and other food supplies, enough to feed some 185,000 people for one month, he said.
Russian Federation took the side of the Syrian government, blaming the rebels for violating the truce.
Seven days after the cease-fire went into effect, aid convoys have not been able to reach besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo.
The U.S. -Russian deal, whose details are still secret, calls for the eventual joint U.S.
Abu al-Baraa al-Hamawi, a rebel commander, said the most intense bombardments had taken in place in areas west of Aleppo, the same area where the aid convoy was hit.
“I hope that all parties to the conflict, and those with influence over them, would see the convoy as an opportunity to move forward”, Mr O’Brien said. Aid agencies, including the Syrian Red Crescent (SARC), had said earlier they were carrying out deliveries in the Aleppo region.
Some aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started.
Asked about the army’s statement, Mr Kerry told reporters in NY that the seven days of calm and aid deliveries envisaged in the truce had not yet taken place.
Under the deal, if fighting had been reduced significantly over seven das and aid had got through, the U.S. and Russian militaries were to have set up a joint targeting cell in Geneva.
Last week, the United States was forced to apologize after it weakened the ceasefire by bombing Syrian troops, but Washington said it had been accidental.
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The Prime Minister said the United Kingdom would co-operate with the investigation by the US-led coalition into the attack on Saturday near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.
