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Assad: US has no credibility, claims are ‘lies’

It has never happened before, so why to happen now, either by the Russians or the Syrians? “The planes are not leaving the sky, helicopters, barrel bombs, warplanes”.

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Women and children are believed to be among those killed in the latest bombing.

Aleppo was once Syria’s commercial and industrial hub but has been ravaged by fighting and roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.

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. However, no deliveries have taken place so far. The White Helmets said several people had been confirmed dead at Aleppo’s hospitals, but there are no precise figures.

Jens Laerke, spokesman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, confirmed that the aid would resume, but that the exact locations would be confirmed only when it had arrived.

The spokesman hoped the United Nations could reach Aleppo “in the near future”.

As a result, Lavrov said there would be “no more unilateral pauses” by Syrian government forces against these rebel groups.

Opposition officials and rescue workers said incendiary bombs were among the weapons used on the city.

Dozens of Syrians were killed overnight in rebel-held districts of Aleppo during airstrikes described by residents as some of the most intense bombardments in months.

The International Syria Support Group, which includes Russian Federation, the USA and other major powers, failed to reach a decision by the end of Thursday to resuscitate a ceasefire in Syria.

But the prospects for progress are thin, says the BBC’s James Longman in Beirut.

His comments came as U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov were preparing to meet in an attempt to revive the shattered ceasefire.

The announcement of renewed aid deliveries comes as world leaders meet in NY for the United Nations General Assembly, where the USA has called for the grounding of all aircraft in the country in a bid to stop deadly airstrikes.

“If the Russians come back to us with constructive proposals we will listen”, Kerry said following the meeting, which included his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and top diplomats from European and Arab nations.

Russian officials have vigorously denied the allegation and said that a US Predator drone was flying above the area at the time.

The U.S. says Russian Federation has failed to use its influence over President Bashar al-Assad to stop the violence, or to ground its own jets, which entered the conflict on Assad’s behalf a year ago.

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But he said the United States needs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and his chief ally, Russia, to “do their part”.

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