Initial estimates indicated that at least 18 of the 31 lorries in the convoy were hit. The volunteer medical service Syrian Civil Defense said helicopters bombed the warehouse and convoy, blaming the Syrian government.
Advertisement
The attack marked a “very, very dark day for humanitarians in Syria and indeed across the world”, OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said, adding that it was “paramount that we are able to establish the facts through an independent investigation”.
Egeland added, “It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses”.
“The perpetrators should know that they will one day be held accountable for violations of global humanitarian and human rights law”, O’Brien added.
It was not clear who was behind the attack, which sent a red fireball into the sky in the dead of night over a rural area in Aleppo province.
A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrived on the scene.
“Did pretty well last night; trucks are moving today to maybe eight locations or more”, Kerry said, according to The New York Times.
There has yet to be a claim of responsibility for the attacks.
The week-old ceasefire had brought a brief respite to at least some parts of the war-torn country.
Despite the statement by the Syrian Army, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he is not losing hope for the ceasefire to hold, AP reports.
“This aid will now not reach those people”, he said, stressing that attacks on humanitarian workers has “an exponential effect on thousands of other people”.
“Syria’s army announces the end of the freeze on fighting that began at 7:00 p.m. on September 12, 2016, in accordance with the US-Russia agreement”, the statement said.
United Nations officials expressed outrage at the strike, noting it had taken them the entire week-long ceasefire just to get everyone to give them permission to come into Aleppo, and it ended up attacked anyhow.
The United Nations had only just received permission from the Syrian government to deliver aid to all besieged areas in the country, as part of a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Russian Federation.
A hard thing to arrange since there have been significant violations from both sides.
Humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians, particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.
The United States said it was outraged at the attack and stressed that the destination of the convoy was known to the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia.
George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee said that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in opening roads for aid to enter besieged rebel-held areas.
The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday.
Ban, whose almost 10-year reign as the UN’s top official comes to an end on December 31, accused “powerful patrons” on both sides in the more than five-year-long Syrian conflict of having “blood on their hands”.
World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said in a statement that the United Nations food agency had airdropped aid to besieged neighbourhoods in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour earlier Tuesday “as part of the planned schedule of deliveries”. According to the announcement, the week afforded to the ceasefire has ended and aircrafts have already been spotted flying over Aleppo.
It said rebel groups, which it referred to as “terrorists”, had failed to commit to any provisions of the truce deal.
“This step (ceasefire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed”. -Russian truce expired, a monitor group reported.
The ministry statement came after the Russian military said that continuing rebel violations made it “meaningless” for the Syrian army to respect the deal.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir pledged his country’s support for Syria’s opposition forces, along with representatives of Qatar, Turkey and European nations, and stressed that Assad can not remain in power, even though that issue has been delayed until the fighting wanes.
An AFP news agency correspondent in Aleppo reported the northern city was being pummeled.
The ceasefire deal had three key components: fighting between government and rebel forces across Syria would halt, although strikes on Islamic State and other jihadists could continue.
Advertisement
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.
