Assad said USA -led coalition airstrikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor Saturday were a “flagrant aggression”, according to Syrian state media. It called the strike a “serious and blatant attack on Syria and its military”, and “firm proof of the US support of Daesh and other terrorist groups”, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
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Syria’s military has declared a week-long ceasefire over and air raids were reported in Aleppo, even as officials from the United States and Russian Federation met behind closed doors in Geneva to try to extend the truce.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the cease-fire threatens to thwart the agreement.
Earlier, Kerry expressed hope that the cease-fire could still hold even after the Syrian military’s announcement, and he took aim at Russian Federation for not doing enough to pressure Assad’s government to comply.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S.is ready to work with Russian Federation to strengthen the terms of the cease-fire agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Laerke called it “a very, very dark day. for humanitarians across the world”.
But a member of the Syrian Civil Defense – a group of volunteer first responders also known as the White Helmets – criticized the United Nations humanitarian aid agency for suspending the convoys.
At least 78,000 people are believed to be in need of immediate aid in the surrounding area.
But most aid shipments were still waiting to go in.
U.N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O’Brien called on “all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by global humanitarian law”.
The Syrian government has carried out 35 airstrikes since the ceasefire ended, the group says.
The UN had only just received permission from the Syrian government to deliver aid to all besieged areas in the country, and had notified Washington and Moscow of the convoy’s route. Images posted online showed lorries and trailers engulfed by flames.
A vest of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent hangs on a damaged vehicle in Aleppo, Syria.
A SARC warehouse was also hit, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“All this was supposed to have been on that convoy, but I do not have a breakdown of what got destroyed and what did not get destroyed”, he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 children and teenagers were among those killed, as well as 17 women.
His comments came after the Syrian military declared that a week-long ceasefire was over and air raids hit aid trucks near the city of Aleppo.
The two sides, which brokered the truce earlier this month, had said that if it holds for seven days, it would be followed by the establishment of a Joint Implementation Center for both countries to coordinate the targeting of Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked militants.
Another 20 U.N. trucks carrying enough flour and other food for 185,000 people are still stopped at the Turkey-Syria border, waiting for entry permits from the Assad government, according to a statement by U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes had hit rebel-held areas in Aleppo and villages to the west.
The Russian military said rebels launched a major attack on a government position on Aleppo’s southwestern outskirts, forcing Syrian troops to respond.
U. N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O’Brien called on “all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by worldwide humanitarian law”.
The ceasefire ends hopes for delivery of food and other aid to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple the Syrian government.
Sirens wailed as ambulances zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, an AFP correspondent reported.
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Keaten reported from Geneva.
