Syria’s nascent ceasefire hung in the balance Monday after an airstrike on a United Nations aid convoy led the USA to question Russia’s commitment to calming violence in the war-torn country and its ability to influence its ally in Damascus.
Advertisement
An emergency UN Security Council meeting called by Moscow to discuss the attack saw an exchange between the USA and Russian Federation reminiscent of Cold War-era verbal jousting.
Meanwhile, UN humanitarian aid shipments remained undelivered – a key component of the deal.
Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid co-ordinator in the office of the United Nations envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was “bombarded”.
The ceasefire ran into trouble at the weekend when rebel-held districts of Aleppo came under a barrage of air strikes and the USA -led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a strike that Washington said was unintentional.
The Red Cross says the bombing killed more than 10 people. But he added that Russian Federation must clarify its position on the status of the truce.
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 ministry statement came after the Russian military said that continuing rebel violations made it “meaningless” for the Syrian army to respect the deal.
“Let’s wait”, he said, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
“Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally”, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said.
But most aid shipments envisioned under the truce have yet to go in, especially a convoy destined for rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo, where some 275,000 civilians are believed trapped without access to food or medical supplies.
Asked if the United States was still open to extending ceasefire efforts, a second administration official said Russian Federation now bears the burden of demonstrating its commitment to peace efforts, “otherwise, there will be nothing to extend and nothing to salvage”.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks the civil war, said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
The road must become a demilitarized zone for aid to be transported along it, meaning both Syrian government troops and the rebels have to pull back.
The Pentagon said Saturday it had halted an airstrike over Syria after Russian Federation and the Syrian government accused US warplanes of responsibility for killing 60 Syrian soldiers.
In Washington, the State Department said Monday that the U.S.is willing to extend the cease-fire “while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance”. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.
Some Syrian rebel groups also expressed pessimism about the ceasefire.
The statement said the military forces have practiced high self-restraint, and responded in a few cases when it had to do so to silence the fire sources of the rebels.
Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started.
After seven days of continuous ceasefire – a deadline that would have been reached on Monday – Washington and Moscow then planned to begin coordinated attacks on jihadi groups that have exploited the chaos in Syria’s six-year war to seize territory.
Barazi said on Sunday that 250-300 rebels were due to be evacuated from Waer, on Monday.
On Monday, the United Kingdom confirmed that British aircraft – believed to be unmanned, remotely-piloted Reaper drones – had been involved in the strike, along with jets from Australia and Denmark.
Advertisement
The situation worsened on Saturday night when US-led airstrikes killed more than 60 Syrian troops. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes.
