Syria’s Assad regime on Monday unilaterally announced the end of a cease-fire – sponsored by the US and Russian Federation – that came into effect on September 12 to mark the recently-ended Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
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Tuesday’s gathering of the top US and Russian diplomats, and more than a dozen of their Arab and European counterparts, ended with ritual reaffirmation of a cease-fire that has all but disintegrated, and promises of future negotiations. -Russian plan to set up a coordination center that would plan strikes against militants in the country.
As violations mount, a senior Syrian opposition official declared the cease-fire “clinically dead”, adding that government forces have violated the truce all over the country.
Russian Federation and Syria said the strikes prove Washington and its allies are sympathetic to ISIS, which they say was able to briefly capture a Syrian position in the wake of the coalition attack.
“Well, the Syrians didn’t make the deal”, Kerry told reporters in NY on Monday.
Churkin called the strike a “bad omen” for the US-Russia deal to halt Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 300,000 people since it erupted in 2011.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes had hit rebel-held areas in Aleppo and villages to the west.
The agreement was further jeopardized Saturday after the USA -led coalition hit Syrian government positions south of Deir al-Zour, killing at least 60 government troops. A helicopter attack on the southern village of Dael killed at least eight people, activists said.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said Moscow’s request for Sunday’s emergency meeting was a “stunt”, while her Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, accused the US of violating agreements that it would not target Syrian army positions.
Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the United Nations envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was “bombarded”.
But most aid shipments envisioned under the truce have yet to go in, especially a convoy destined for rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo, where some 275,000 civilians are believed trapped without access to food or medical supplies.
Aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said, for the first time since July.
The station says Monday’s airstrikes targeted IS positions in areas such as the Tharda Mountain, overlooking the airport of the city of Deir el-Zour.
The U.S. expressed “regret” for the “unintentional loss of life”, and said that it had been coordinating with Russian Federation but not made aware of the Syrian position. Shortly after Syrian Army positions were attacked from the air, Islamic State launched an offensive in the area, according to Damascus.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the failure of Syrian rebels to adhere to the truce “threatens the cease-fire and U.S”. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes.
The move comes seven days after a fragile ceasefire came into effect in Syria, but tensions between its main architects – Moscow and Washington – are obscuring any prospect of a more lasting peace.
The U.N. humanitarian aid agency suspended all convoys in Syria on Tuesday following deadly airstrikes on aid trucks the previous night that activists said killed at least 12 people, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
The US and Russian Federation are to hold further talks on the Syrian situation in NY on Tuesday, the state department added.
Erdogan said the Syrian opposition forces, backed by Turkish troops and tanks, are determined to advance toward al-Bab to clear the region of terror threats.
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“Our outrage at this attack is enormous. the convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians”, de Mistura said, in a statement emailed to Reuters by his spokeswoman in Geneva.
