But late Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby called the convoy attack an “egregious violation” of the week-long cease-fire and said the U.S.
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Rebel groups countered by accusing the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire, the AP said.
The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province.
O’Brien said he is “disgusted and horrified” by “these sickening attacks” which he condemned in the strongest terms. Al-Halaby said that rebels in Aleppo province also claimed Russian aircraft were behind the attack.
A convoy of aid trucks has been hit by an air strike near the Syrian city of Aleppo, reports say, hours after the military declared the current cessation of violence was over. In this grab taken from video provided by the Syrian Civil Defence White Helmets, a member of the team describes the damage after an airstrike, in Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.
Syria’s army Tuesday denied bombing a convoy of aid trucks in the northern province of Aleppo the previous evening, an incident the United Nations said could amount to a war crime.
Mr de Mistura’s humanitarian adviser, Jan Egeland, said the convoy had been “bombarded” while offloading at warehouses.
Kerry told reporters: “We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods”.
A Red Cross vehicle carrying aid arrives in the rebel-held town of Talbiseh, Syria, on Monday. -Russian truce expired, a monitor group reported. A hard thing to arrange since there have been significant violations from both sides.
The ceasefire was meant to halt all fighting and allow aid to reach besieged areas, at a time when pro-government forces, with Russian and Iranian military support, are in their strongest positions for years and civilians in many rebel-held are completely cut off from food and medical supplies.
George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid.
“I believe that the truce is clinically dead”.
Both the Syrian Army and the rebel groups have spoken openly about their wishes to return to the battlefield. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.
“This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed”.
Syria’s military has declared a week-long ceasefire over and air raids were reported in Aleppo, even as officials from the United States and Russian Federation met behind closed doors in Geneva to try to extend the truce.
“The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce”.
An AFP correspondent in Aleppo reported that the northern city was being pummelled.
The Russian defence ministry also said that both its forces and the Syrian air force “did not conduct any strikes against the United Nations aid convoy”.
Earlier, Russia’s defense ministry had appeared to bury the week-old truce, saying rebel violations made it “pointless” for Syrian troops to uphold it.
The truce took effect last Monday.
The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12 and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the cease-fire “clinically dead”.
Denmark, the U.K.an Australia are involved in a USA -led air raid that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Saturday at Deir-el-Zour, while the brokered truce was still undergoing. After that, their goal was for Moscow and Washington to begin an unprecedented joint effort to coordinate air strikes on Islamic extremist groups in Syria while grounding Mr Assad’s air force in those areas. Instead, the militants gained an advantage from the airstrikes that included Australian, British and Danish warplanes.
USA ambassador Samantha Power expressed regret for the loss of life but dismissed the summoning of the Security Council as a “stunt”, accusing Moscow of “moralism and grandstanding” that was “uniquely typical and hypocritical”.
Australia and Denmark have also said that their planes were involved in the strike.
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America apologised for the bombing which occurred on a base near the eastern Deir al Zor airport, insisting their intended target was Islamic State fighters, and Theresa May has admitted Britain played a role in the attack while alleging the British military would never “intentionally” strike Syrian forces.
