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Kerry says Syrian ceasefire holding but fragile

The attack came a day after strikes by the US-led coalition mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian government troops, prompting a diplomatic firestorm.

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The Observatory confirmed the downing of the Russian-made MiG warplane over Tharda mountain.

Asked about the army’s statement, Kerry told reporters in NY that the seven days of calm and aid deliveries envisaged in the truce had not yet taken place.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said on Sunday the air strikes aimed to sink the U.S.

Residents of eastern Aleppo have been waiting desperately for promised aid deliveries into their neighborhoods.

The statement said: “Overnight, coalition aircraft were conducting airstrikes in eastern Syria against what was believed to be a Daesh [Isis] fighting position that the coalition had been tracking for some time”.

Soon after, the US said it’s prepared to extend the fractured ceasefire despite numerous violations and the Syrian military’s announcement.

Already widely violated since it took effect, the ceasefire came under added strain at the weekend when Russian Federation said jets from the US -led coalition against Islamic State killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria.

“Moscow’s willingness to engage Secretary of State John Kerry’s push for a diplomatic process was grounded in the Kremlin’s assumption that, perhaps the United States was taking its first gingerly steps down the same road as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: the grudging recognition that Bashar al-Assad was no longer the primary threat in the Syria conflict”, analyst Nikolas K. Gvosdev wrote for the National Interest. The government also said it repelled an insurgent attack on areas it controls south of Aleppo. -Russian brokered cease-fire had failed, and United Nations officials reported many dead and seriously wounded. He said the USA has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire.

“Every time the Syrian state makes tangible progress either on the ground or towards national reconciliation, anti-Syrian states increase their support of terrorist organisations”, Assad said in comments published by state news agency SANA.

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.

“The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian Federation”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

In a statement Monday, the Syrian military said that “armed terrorist groups” repeatedly violated the cease-fire which came into effect last week.

Syria’s military command has declared the U.S-Russian brokered cease-fire over, blaming the country’s rebel groups for undermining the agreement.

“This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed”.

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.

At least 32 people were killed in airstrikes in and around Aleppo Monday – including 12 involved in aid delivery, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman Riad Nassan Agha said the government side had never committed to the truce: “Air raids by Russian and Syrian warplanes, which haven’t stopped, suggest the truce never started in the first place”. He said the United States has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire. American officials said, however, that conditions were still not right for U.S.

“The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian army’s positions in Deir Ezzor”, he said.

62 Syrian soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike.

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The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12, and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the cease-fire “clinically dead”.

Syria conflict: Russia furious as US air strike kills 62 troops fighting ISIS