Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters that a preliminary assessment indicated the convoy caught fire rather than being hit by mortar shells.
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He spoke as a U.S.
“What is more the aircraft entered the area over the town of Orum al-Kubra, where the convoy was located, several minutes before it burst into flames and left 30 minutes later”, he said. Both Russia and Syria have denied their aircraft struck the convoy.
Responsibility for the attack is disputed, and US and Russian officials have spent the days since trading blame.
Now, however, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian defense ministry, said Western allegations that Moscow was responsible were an attempt to distract attention from the USA -led coalition’s bombing of Syrian soldiers near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reacts as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses Russian actions in Syria during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to address the situation in the Middle East during the General Assembly for the 71st session of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in NY, U.S., September 21, 2016.
The US is blaming Russian Federation for the attack and Secretary of State John Kerry has called for the grounding of all aircraft.
The latest broadside from Russia’s foreign ministry followed an acrimonious confrontation between Mr. Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at the United Nations over the fate of the cease-fire.
The attack on the aid convoy came on the same day when Assad announced that the truce is over.
Video: What is Russian Federation telling citizens about Syria? Focused on protecting key aid routes in northern Syria, it was unclear if Russian Federation and Syria would agree.
The failed cease-fire brokered earlier this month had allowed aid workers unrestricted access to Aleppo and nearby besieged neighborhoods.
The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighborhoods.
‘To add insult to injury our soldiers and the wounded soldiers underwent another airstrike by drones while they were evacuating their positions, ‘ Dr al-Ja’afari said. “The trucks and the food and the medicine just spontaneously combusted”, the secretary of state said.
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“Whether they conducted it or not – because they’ve taken responsibility for the conduct of Syrians by associating themselves with the Syrian regime”, Carter said.
