But Mr Assad implied the attack was coordinated so IS fighters could benefit from it. The White House has said that should negotiations with Russian Federation progress, it could lead to Assad leaving power.
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He said that his enemies alone were to blame for almost six years of devastation across Syria and denied any excesses by his troops. At the moment, our military is checking information regarding the airstrike and I hope they are getting concrete information from first-hand sources that were present in order to present their own findings, ” Peskov said on Monday. In recent months, Assad’s forces have taken rebel strongholds in suburbs of the capital, bolstering security and reducing the threat of mortar shells.
The UN resumed aid deliveries on Thursday after a brief pause following a strike on a convoy in northern Syria that killed 20 civilians and destroyed 18 aid lorries.
Witnesses described no fewer than 20 missiles striking the warehouse and trucks over a two-hour period.
The assault, by aircraft from the Syrian government, its Russian allies or both, made clear that Moscow and Damascus had rejected a plea by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to halt flights so that aid could be delivered and a ceasefire salvaged.
A senior State Department official speaking to the media on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly said it is impossible to say a cease-fire is in effect when Syrian forces are conducting a renewed offensive on Aleppo.
“Clearly, the resumption of the talks would be greatly helped by revitalising the cessation of hostilities, and I think that is a possibility”, U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told reporters in Geneva. Assad said the USA lacked “the will” to join forces with Russian Federation in fighting extremists and rejected Washington’s claim that airstrikes last week on Syrian troops were accidental.
Lavrov said the US bore the biggest responsibility for peace by separating opposition forces from terrorists.
“It wasn’t an accident by one airplane…” Assad, in an interview with AP News, said that Russian Federation was not behind it and suggested that “militants” and “terrorists” were to blame. Assad said in his interview he believed the strikes, which he said lasted over an hour, were deliberate. Assad asked. “So it was definitely intentional, not unintentional as they claimed”. The U.S. -based Physicians for Human Rights recorded 382 attacks on medical facilities and hospitals throughout Syria since the start of the conflict in 2011.
State Department spokesman John Kirby says “it’s hard to see how these ridiculous claims deserve a response, except to say they prove yet again the degree to which Assad has lost his legitimacy to govern”.
Kerry spoke immediately after Lavrov, whose comments underscored a breakdown in trust since the pair sealed the cease-fire agreement and potential U.S. -Russian agreement to jointly target militants in the country. McCain said Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have “deluded themselves” into believing they could negotiate deals that involve Syrian President Bashar Assad and his chief backers, Russian Federation and Iran.
A meeting of the International Syria Support Group was “long, painful and disappointing”, and the USA and Russian Federation failed to agree on how to revive a ceasefire with Syria, according to the UN’s mediator for the war-torn country.
“The drivers are sleeping at the border and they have done so now for now a week, so please, President Assad, do your bit to enable us to get to eastern Aleppo”.
At one point during the AP interview, Assad denied restricting access for aid convoys to besieged cities.
A senior official says at least six people were wounded by the rocket that struck the Turkish town of Kilis, on the border with Syria.
Speaking about the almost five million refugees who have fled the violence in Syria, Assad called them a “great loss”.
On Twitter, users posted videos claiming to show the aftermath of the the phosphorous bombs being dropped on the city. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and once thriving cities have been ravaged, with entire blocks reduced to rubble.
ASSAD: He said “even the United Nations said that there were no airstrikes against that convoy”.
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Eyewitness accounts reported that the attack came from the air and involved barrel bombs, unguided crude bombs used by the Syrian regime.
