The attack dealt a further blow to the ceasefire deal, which was agreed by the USA and Russian Federation on 12 September but declared over by the Syrian military on Monday evening.
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“Every time the Syrian state makes tangible progress either on the ground or towards national reconciliation, anti-Syrian states increase their support of terrorist organizations”, Assad said in comments published by state news agency SANA.
Syria’s President Assad called the airstrikes a “flagrant aggression”. The Syrian military said it planned to end the truce, citing what it claimed were 300 cease-fire violations by armed “terrorist groups”, Reuters reported.
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.
Aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province Monday, the Red Cross said, for the first time since July.
The US says it will “reassess the future prospects for co-operation” with Russian Federation – an ally of Syria’s government.
In what may signal the crumbling of the latest-and perhaps final-ceasefire arrangement in Syria under the Obama administration, the Syrian government on Monday voiced its renewed commitment to the fight.
“The Syrian army had announced a freeze on fighting until Sunday night, but as Russian Federation announced an extension, it will end on Monday at 1600 GMT”, a diplomatic source told the AFP news agency.
The aid was sitting at the border for around a week. The group said in a statement sent to reporters.
A mistaken attack by coalition airpower that killed dozens of Syrian troops, as well as fresh airstrikes in Aleppo and Idlib, have led to bitter exchanges between Washington and Moscow.
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.
There was an uptick in violence Friday, when the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that four civilians were killed in airstrikes in Idlib, without identifying who carried them out.
As many as 275,000 people remain trapped in Aleppo’s battleground, without food, water or medical care, Stephen O’Brien, the United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said.
A military source in Deir Ezzor told AFP on Monday the army had begun a new operation backed by Russian and Syrian warplanes to roll back IS´s advance.
Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of the Aleppo-based group Fastaqim, also said that the truce has “practically failed and has ended” and there is no hope that aid will be delivered to rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
The Americans “not only turned out to be unable to give an adequate explanation of what happened, but also tried, as is their custom, to turn everything upside down”, the statement said.
The strike prompted a reaction of visceral anger from the worldwide community, with officials from the United Nations and U.S. saying they were “disgusted” and “outraged”.
The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Russian Federation must take immediate action to demonstrate its seriousness in applying pressure for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government to comply with the ceasefire.
The areas hit are close to Syrian army positions that were targeted on Sunday by the US -led coalition.
“And yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people”, he added.
He added then that the USA had heard about “an incident” that he said “flies directly contrary to that right”. He appeared to be referring to the US -led airstrikes in eastern Syria.
The Syrian military said the deadly airstrike hit a base in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour that is surrounded by IS, allowing the extremists to advance and overrun Syrian army positions in the area.
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Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The failure of this cease-fire is just another failed undertaking to end this war that has been violently waged now for more than five years.
