Russian Federation – president Bashar Assad’s main foreign backer – said it had been told by the Syrian government that 62 of its troops had been killed in the strike.
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Syria’s armed forces “exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups”, it said. The Pentagon said the strike was accidental and United States officials expressed regret, but Russian Federation and Syria raised the possibility that the U.S. was acting in support of ISIS. “So we need to see what the Russians say”, Kerry said before meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in NY. “That process is continuing and we’ll see where we are in the course of the day”.
“But, from the UK’s point of view we are there to deal with Daesh, to deal with the terrorist threat that is Daesh”.
Air strikes hit aid trucks outside a Syrian Arab Red Crescent center in northern Aleppo province on Monday, a monitor said, hours after the army declared a truce over.
Jan Egeland, head of the United Nations humanitarian task force for Syria, said the convoy was bombed despite aid agencies coordinating their movements with all sides on the ground.
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.
The U.S. initially brushed off Damascus’ assertions and said it was prepared to extend the agreement, while Russian Federation after blaming rebels for the violations suggested it could still be salvaged.
The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired.
Erdogan’s announcement comes as a fragile cease-fire, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation and now in its seventh day, has mostly held despite numerous violations.
“We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance”, Kirby’s statement said.
However, Russia’s defence ministry appeared to bury hopes that the truce would last past Monday night.
Humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians, particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.
France’s foreign minister criticized both the United States and Russian Federation for the cease-fire pact that excluded the worldwide community, saying it must have wide support if it’s going to be implemented.
The U.S.is imposing sanctions on a Syrian-based radical group formerly affiliated with al-Qaida.
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. “We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods”, Kerry said. Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over Syria, as well as the USA -led coalition that is targeting the Islamic State group.
It said rebel groups “did not commit to a single element” of the deal. The statement said the rebels wasted a “real chance” to stop the bloodshed.
United Nations officials said the United Nations and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.
The US conducted an airstrike on Syrian forces on Saturday – the Pentagon said it accidental and US officials expressed regret.
More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria’s war, now in its sixth year, with more than 13 million people driven from their homes.
At least 12 aid workers and many civilians were feared killed after a United Nations convoy carrying food and supplies to Urm al-Kubra, a town to the west of Aleppo, Syria, was attacked through air strikes even as the threadbare ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russian Federation fell through.
The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the USA -led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour.
His adviser Buthaina Shaaban went further, telling AFP that Damascus believed the raid which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers had been intentional.
Shortly after Syria’s armed forces declared that the truce was dead and blamed opposition rebels for undermining it, Kerry noted that the cease-fire had not produced the desired reduction in violence and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid.
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Rudskoy said that the rebels had not withdrawn their military hardware from the area, preventing Syrian troops from doing the same.
