Russian Federation on Wednesday said a Predator drone from the US-led coalition flew over an aid convoy in Syria when it was destroyed, denying again that it bombed the humanitarian column.
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Outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon gave what many consider to be his strongest speech ever, saying “we are at a make or break moment”.
Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are to sit down with key players in the conflict on Thursday, September 22 to try to revive the ceasefire and chart a new course towards ending the five-year war. The group later said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed, while a third nurse remains in critical condition.
The Syrian military has not yet commented on the claims about the latest intense airstrikes which were made by rebel officials and a monitoring group.
On Wednesday, heavy bombardment pummelled Aleppo city and the wider province, key battlegrounds in Syria’s conflict.
Civil defence workers in the Qadi Askar neighbourhood weaved through rubble in search of wounded residents in a row of buildings hit by air strikes Wednesday.
“Just an hour after I left, a missile destroyed their whole building and they both died under the rubble”, Abu Ahmad said. Then, a Russian ambassador said forces were targeting another area.
Moscow and Washington are locked in a bitter war of words over the attack on the aid trucks and a warehouse on Monday that killed around 20 civilians.
The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced its “resentment and indignation” at the accusation, which it said was a bid to “distract attention from a odd “error” when the US-led coalition bombed Syrian troops defending Deir Ezzor on Saturday, killing more than 60 and allowing Isis terrorists to capture a key position. The two sides have also blamed each other since the attack.
USA officials believe Russian aircraft were responsible for the attack, near Aleppo. A United Nations aid convoy taking desperately-needed supplies to 78,000 people in a rebel-held area of Aleppo was attacked over a three-hour period, and there are reports a Russian fighter jet was overhead.
On Wednesday, a Russian military spokesman said a Predator drone from the US-led coalition had entered the area where the attack had taken place “several minutes before it burst into flames”.
Gabriel said he told Putin that Germany thought the Syrian army was involved in the attack. “Our obligation to civilians on all sides is to go where and when we can with relief”, Jan Egeland, a senior United Nations humanitarian official focused on Syria, reportedly said.
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The deal foresaw an end to fighting between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and non-jihadist rebels, aid deliveries to besieged areas and, if the ceasefire held for seven days, cooperation between Moscow and Washington in battling IS and other extremist groups.
