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Airstrike on Syrian medical facility kills 5 staff

A spokesman for Moscow, on the other hand, rejected the allegation, saying tha USA had no evidence to back the claim.

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“In any event, we hold the Russian government responsible for airstrikes in this space”, spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters in NY, citing Russian commitments under a nationwide truce.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the raids or how many casualties they had caused. Both have denied that their planes carried out the strike, but the USA has reportedly reached the “preliminary conclusion” that two Russian Su-24 jets were responsible, based on the timing and location of the attack.

Moscow strongly denied that its planes targeted the convoy.

Two Russian warplanes were above the convoy when it was hit, unnamed USA officials have said.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said at least 11 civilians, including three children and three women, were killed Wednesday during air raids on several rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo.

Mr Ban called the attack on the aid convoy “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate” and called for those responsible to be held to account. He added, “Just when you think it can not get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower”.

Eighteen of 31 lorries were destroyed and about 20 civilians were killed including a senior official of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

Syrian state TV says a military warplane has crashed and the pilot has been rescued after carrying out a combat mission against Islamic State group militants northwest of the capital, Damascus. The damage inflicted on the trucks was “the direct result of the cargo catching fire” at the same time as a large-scale rebel attack on Aleppo, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

The US military has been reviewing classified radar, signals and aerial surveillance intelligence.

Meanwhile the Russians have released a series of conflicting statements in an effort to justify the strike on the United Nations convoy.

Founded in 2012, UOSSM is a coalition of humanitarian, non-governmental and medical organisations from the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Turkey. Please see our terms of service for more information. Much of that aid had been destroyed, they said.

“We appreciate the prayers. for the humanitarian workers in Syria, for their safety as they do this work and the safety of the communities that they work with”. “We have nothing to do with this situation”, the statement added. “If we can’t, we walk away”.

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The attack prompted the United Nations to suspend all aid shipments into Syria.

Uncredited     Damaged trucks carrying aid in Aleppo Syria after a UN humanitarian aid convoy in Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday