Russian Federation and the United States brokered the ceasefire, which included a key provision allowing aid to be delivered to Aleppo, a devastated city split between government and rebel forces. The report said the groups used the truce to mobilize their forces, and the military had made “unremitting efforts” to implement the deal even though the opposition violated it 300 times. He stressed that all parties received notification of the convoy, which was carrying aid for about 78,000 people.
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More than 30 trucks from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were reportedly bringing food relief from United Nations stores to the town of Urm al-Kabra, near Aleppo, in an area controlled by rebel groups.
Aid trucks have been hit by airstrikes near Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). These numbers have not been officially confirmed.
They posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night.
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, meanwhile voiced outrage at the attack on the aid convoy: “Our outrage at this attack is enormous” de Mistura said in a statement.
Egeland added, “It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses”.
“We’re happy to have a good conversation with them and see how we proceed”, he said, of the Russian side.
Inside Aleppo, residents in rebel-held areas hunkered down Monday night after the end of ceasefire which had brought only temporary relief to the population of up to 275,000 people trapped there.
The week-old cease-fire had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country.
Russian and USA officials met in Geneva on Monday to try to extend the truce, and the International Syria Support Group – the countries backing the Syria peace process – was scheduled to meet on Tuesday in NY to assess the agreement.
The UN held back deliveries destined for Aleppo city because it was unable to obtain security guarantees, leading the UN’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien to say he was “pained and disappointed”.
Washington said it was working to extend the truce but called on Russian Federation to first clarify the Syrian army’s statement that it was over.
The cease-fire came into effect on September 12.
Asked about the army’s statement, Mr Kerry told reporters in NY that the seven days of calm and aid deliveries envisaged in the truce had not yet taken place.
From the start, the truce had been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations.
The bloodiest day for civilians was Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started.
Despite the spike in tension, food aid did reach the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyat al-Sham after a government deal granting amnesty to opposition fighters in the besieged town.
“There was no ceasefire to begin with, for us to say whether it failed or succeeded”, Riyad Hijab, general coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee told reporters.
It said the militants are attacking Syrian army positions near a military academy and living quarters on southwestern outskirts of Aleppo, adding that the Syrian troops are fighting to repel the attack.
The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. The statement said the rebels wasted a “real chance” to stop the bloodshed. “The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilized terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas”.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called that incident “flagrant aggression”.
Asked whether he expected aid to reach rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo, he said: “There is no hope”. The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired.
“With the rebels failing to fulfill conditions the cease-fire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless”, Rudskoi said.
The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strikes by the US-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir Az Zor. Syria and Russian Federation blasted Washington over the attack. Australian, British and Danish warplanes were involved in that attack on Syrian army positions.
The uncertainty cast doubts on a U.S.
His adviser Buthaina Shaaban went further, telling AFP that Damascus believed the raid which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers had been intentional.
The air strike on a Syrian army position by the USA -led coalition on Saturday triggered a fierce war of words between Washington and Moscow, with Russian Federation saying it put the agreement under threat.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow.
