U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack”, in his address to world leaders at the General Assembly Tuesday.
Advertisement
A member of the Syrian Civil Defense criticized the United Nations humanitarian aid agency for suspending the convoys.
“Just when we think it can not get any worse, the power of depravity sinks lower”, Ban told world leaders convening at the UN General Assembly annual meeting Tuesday. “The target was the Red Crescent, central and direct”. Ban called those delivering aid “heroes”.
Russian Federation has been helping its close ally President Bashar al-Assad in the fight, though it has said its efforts are focused on attacking terror groups such as ISIS that have flourished during the conflict. Jund al-Aqsa primarily operates in the northern Syrian cities of Idlib and Hama. “The regime and Russians are taking revenge on all the areas”, he said.
The attack, on Monday, has left the United Nations with no choice but to stop aid convoys incase of attack, it is simply too risky for them to continue to operate.
Peskov also took the opportunity to again highlight the US -led coalition’s major transgression of last week, which American military officers have conceded was likely a mistaken airstrike on Syrian forces that killed dozens.
MSF-supported clinics and medical facilities have frequently come under attack in Syria, as part of what the rights group Physicians for Human Rights describes as “the most widespread and systematic assault on health care in the world to date”.
“It started with an hour of extremely fierce bombing”, said Besher Hawi, the former spokesman for the opposition’s Aleppo city council.
SARC chief Abdulrahman Attar said the organisation was “totally devastated by the deaths of so many people”, including Barakat, whom he described as “a committed and fearless member of our family”. The Red Crescent has lost 54 staff and volunteers in the past six years of conflict.
United Nations humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said initial reports indicate that many were killed or seriously injured in the convoy attack, including Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers.
Hussein Badawi, the head of the town’s Syrian Civil Defense search and rescue group – also known as the White Helmets – said that on the night of the attack he heard the sounds of overhead ballistic missiles, helicopters and fighter jets. Essentially, after the first strike hit, a second strike was conducted to hit any rescuers that arrived at the scene.
Witnesses said some of the remains were charred beyond recognition. The rescue teams weren’t even able to work.
On Monday a humanitarian convoy consisting of 31 trucks was attacked while heading to Aleppo.
Konashenkov remarks on Tuesday were reported by the state news agency Tass. “Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo”, the group said in a statement sent to reporters.
Video footage from after the attack showed a Civil Defense member pointing towards burning buildings surrounded by rubble, twisted metal and damaged vehicles, pointing out what he said was the aftermath of the strike.
Please visit http://www.businessdayonline.com/en/un-aid-convoy-hit-by-warplanes-in-syria/ to access this member content. -Russian coordination center to plan military strikes against the Islamic State group and a powerful al-Qaida-linked militant faction.
Syrian state TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that reports about the Syrian army targeting an aide convoy are not true.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday that analysis of video footage from drones of the strike show that militants were following the convoy, according to the Russian state news site TASS.
Advertisement
“From what we know of yesterday’s attack, there has been a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which is totally unacceptable”, International Committee of the Red Cross President Peter Maurer said Tuesday in a statement.
