The US-led raid on Saturday evening hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces have been fighting off IS jihadists since past year.
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Critical parts of the agreement remain unfulfilled.
Inside Aleppo, residents in rebel-held areas hunkered down after the end of the ceasefire which had brought only temporary relief to the population of up to 275,000 people trapped there.
“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians”.
But then things started going badly wrong.
Under the deal, the United States and Russian Federation were to begin coordinating militarily to target terrorists in Syria if the ceasefire held for seven days and humanitarian aid was delivered to Aleppo and other besieged areas.
The Observatory said the aid trucks had made a delivery organised by an global organisation to an area west of Aleppo.
“We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods”, Kerry said.
The US wants to see Russian Federation restrain its close ally President Bashar al-Assad, who has battered opposition forces largely supported by the US. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside the country, reported the casualty figures.
Monitors reported clashes in and around Aleppo on Monday.
The Syrian army said it was launching a “major operation” against rebels in Damascus on Monday, as its sponsor Russian Federation said a week-long ceasefire was “pointless” due to violations by rebels.
More damaging to the fragile agreement were the airstrikes carried out by U.S. and Australian planes near the northern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. “If this had been a military position, it wouldn’t have been targeted with such intensity”.
The incident led to accusations that were bitter even by the standards of the strained US-Russian relationship.
The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.
The U.N. humanitarian aid agency’s decision came after deadly airstrikes on aid trucks the previous night that activists said killed at least 12 people, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
Beyond the rhetoric there were more telling comments from both diplomats.
The Russian general said “the main issue” was that non-jihadist rebels had not been separated from Syria’s former Al Qaeda affiliate on the ground.
It’s hard to imagine the JIC being a place of harmony in such circumstances.
The statement says the civilians were killed as they were unloading trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid and that much of the aid was destroyed, depriving thousands of much-needed food and medical assistance.
The route into Aleppo from the Turkish border is yet to be declared safe.
United States officials stress there must be sustained humanitarian access to areas most in need before the next phase of the agreement can begin.
Reached for clarification, OCHA’s Damascus office said only interagency convoys had been suspended, without elaborating further.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Sunday that the move would “put the implementation of the agreement in danger”.
The US initially brushed off Damascus’ assertions and said it was prepared to extend the agreement, while Russian Federation – after blaming rebels for the violations – suggested the truce could still be salvaged. The group has predictably claimed the “conspiracy” to break the “spirit of the revolution will increase the determination of the mujahid factions”.
Syria’s armed forces “exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups”, the statement said. “It will be hard to change this mind-set”.
Despite the attack, the United Nations appeared to move forward with aid airdrops in Syria.
Syrian President Bashar Assad called the strike “blatant American aggression”, according to the AP. And Syria is one of the few states in the region still in Moscow’s “sphere of influence”.
Iran is one of Assad’s strongest supporters.
“Our outrage at this attack is enormous”, said Staffan de Mistura.
Earlier, Moscow appeared to bury hopes that the truce would last. It has stabilized a tottering regime, but victory is not at hand.
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Syria’s nascent ceasefire hung in the balance Monday after an airstrike on a United Nations aid convoy led the U.S. to question Russia’s commitment to calming violence in the war-torn country and its ability to influence its ally in Damascus.
