UNITED NATIONS (AP) The United States and Russian Federation blamed each other for Syria’s failing cease-fire Wednesday, illustrating why a fractured U.N. Security Council has been unable for more than five years to do anything to stop the Arab country’s civil war.
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U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry didn’t pull his punches against the Russian government at the United Nations on Wednesday – blasting Moscow for this week’s attack on a convoy carrying relief supplies into war-battered Syria.
“Twenty aid workers were killed in an outrageous, sustained, two-hour attack directed at a fully authorized humanitarian mission near Aleppo – fully authorized”.
The U.N said convoys to priority areas would be resumed, with deliveries planned as early as Thursday.
“To restore credibility, we must immediately ground all aircraft flying in those key areas in order to de-escalate the situation and give a chance for humanitarian assistance to flow unimpeded”, he said. “We hope to resume convoys tomorrow and Friday, but still work on security guarantees”.
Dr. Oubaida Al Moufti, vice president of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, says five staff members were killed when its ambulances were hit.
The group, known by its French initials UOSSM, said three nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed.
Mr Lavrov said the attack on the convoy was an “unacceptable provocation” that took place in territory controlled by forces opposing the Syrian government.
Monday’s attack on the aid convoy, which the Syrian Red Crescent says killed the head of its local office and around 20 other people, brought furious worldwide condemnation.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the meeting it was a “make or break moment” for Syria, urging world powers to use their influence to help re-start political talks so Syrians can “negotiate a way out of the hell in which they are trapped”.
The strike follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted worldwide condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. The U.N. suspended aid deliveries after a strike on a humanitarian convoy this week.
Russia’s defence ministry released drone footage late on Tuesday that it said showed a pickup, carrying militants and hauling a heavy mortar, driving alongside the convoy before it was bombed. The war of words has intensified as the USA officials stated Moscow’s warplanes were responsible for the destruction of the 18 trucks. He also denied any Russian involvement, saying no Russian planes were in the area at the time.
The Russian military says a USA drone was flying over the area when an aid convoy was attacked in Syria on Monday.
A US and Russian-brokered cease-fire that went into effect nine days ago is on the brink of collapse, with the government and the rebels alleging dozens of violations. His pleas crossed paths with another statement by Russia’s government, this time suggesting a USA coalition Predator drone was operating nearby when the convoy attack occurred.
The failed cease-fire brokered earlier this month had allowed aid workers unrestricted access to Aleppo and nearby besieged neighborhoods.
“There only could have been two entities responsible, either the Syrian regime or the Russian government”, deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Syrian opposition activists said suspected government airstrikes in the northern city of Aleppo and the rebel-held Idlib province killed 23 civilians, including at least five children.
The town is besieged by government forces. Washington said that strike was carried out by mistake with the intent of hitting Islamic State. The pilot was rescued, according to an unnamed military official quoted on state TV.
Kerry claims Moscow has backtracked on taking responsibility for the attack and said simple logic indicates the Russians are lying.
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The militant group downed a government aircraft Sunday in the eastern Deir el-Zour province.
