The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s cease-fire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries.
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The moves come two days after an attack on a convoy near Alepo killed 20 people and prompted a temporary suspension from the U.N. Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian aid agency, said Wednesday that “several” convoys are expected as early as Thursday, but didn’t specify where.
Witnesses described the Monday attack on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse and convoy in the rebel-held town of Uram Al-Kubra in Aleppo province as prolonged and intense, saying the aerial bombardment continued as rescue workers rushed to pull the wounded from the flaming wreckage and rubble.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday told the U.N. Security Council session on Syria Russia appears to be operating “in a parallel universe”.
In New York on Tuesday, Russian and US diplomats insisted that the Syrian cease-fire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence.
NEWS BRIEF The United Nations will resume deliveries of humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of civilians in Syria days after an attack on one of its convoys killed at least 20 people.
Dozens of Syrian troops were killed in Saturday’s strike by the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State, which Washington said was a mistake. Yet following the convoy attack, the United Nations suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria.
But U.S. officials said two Russian Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes were in the sky at the time of the strike.
Moscow denies that Russian or Syrian planes carried out Monday’s strike on the aid convoy.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said a U.S. Predator drone was in the area of the convoy attack when it happened.
A rebel fighter in the Aleppo area said warplanes had been bombing all night in preparation for an attack.
Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, while Washington supports numerous rebel factions fighting to topple him.
Only the Islamic State group and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front are not covered by the ceasefire, but Russian Federation has long argued that other groups are fighting alongside those jihadists.
Laerke acknowledged that a full assessment had not been completed, but said the planned deliveries would take place now on a case-by-case basis.
But Moscow has denied all involvement, instead suggesting a fire broke out destroying the vehicles among other theories. Even that revelation failed to definitively implicate Russia because both the Russian and Syrian air forces fly the Su-24, although the United States officials said there were strong indications that the jet was flown by the Russian military. Aircraft from Syria, Russia and the US -led coalition are targeting the Fatah al-Sham Front, which along with the Islamic State group was excluded from the cease-fire.
The medical staff killed were working for the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), it said.
The militant group downed a government aircraft Sunday in the eastern Deir el-Zour province.
A medical relief organization says four of its staff have been killed in an attack on a medical facility in Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group puts the toll at 13 dead, among them four nurses and paramedics and nine rebel fighters, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.
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The army reported carrying out air strikes on seven areas near Aleppo.
