The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russian Federation _ after blaming rebels for the violations _ suggested it could still be salvaged.
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Last week, the United States was forced to apologize after it weakened the ceasefire by bombing Syrian troops, but Washington said it had been accidental.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday US jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four air strikes by two F-16s and two A-10s coming from the direction of Iraq.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike.
Another defense official told The Hill that if the USA knew that to be case, the strike would not have been carried out.
“If this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime”, United Nations aid chief Stephen O’Brien said in a statement calling for an immediate and independent investigation.
Moscow’s exit strategy for Syria revolves around a political transition that would leave President Bashar al-Assad in power, according to Paul Schwartz, a senior associate at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “We see a resumption of violence, an intensification of fighting in many locations”, Robert Mardini, ICRC director for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters in Geneva.
Syrian activists and paramedics had said earlier that the airstrikes killed 12 people.
United Nations officials said the United Nations and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.
The first five days following the introduction of the agreement provided merciful relief for Syrian civilians, especially the hundreds of thousands trapped in rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
The strike has threatened an already fragile USA – and Russia-brokered cease-fire that has largely held despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. Millions have been displaced inside Syria or fled the country.
U.S. officials stress there must be sustained humanitarian access to areas most in need before the next phase of the agreement can begin.
“We have not necessarily concluded yet that coalition forces struck Syrian forces”, the official said.
A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says around 20 civilians were killed in the airstrikes that hit an aid convoy in northern Syria the previous night.
“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry criticised the Syrian declaration, saying: “It would be good if they didn’t talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this”. The official added that Kerry is in close coordination with the White House.
One week ago, Damascus announced that the US/Russia-brokered cease-fire had gone into effect across the war-torn country.
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But the official added, “Clearly one of the factors that might be at play here is whether the forces were easily identifiable as Syrian government forces”.
