The United States said on Monday it was working to extend a cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria but called on Russian Federation to first clarify a statement by the Syrian army that the truce was over.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a bilateral meeting Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NY. -Russian brokered cease-fire had failed.
“There was an initial lull in violence, but very little aid moved and by the end of the week both sides were fighting again”.
Seven days after the cease-fire went into effect, aid convoys have not been able to reach besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo. He says that when the Russians called back, they spoke to the right officer and the strike was halted within about five minutes. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.
“With the rebels failing to fulfill conditions the cease-fire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless”, Rudskoi said. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group.
The statement said the “bombardment” killed SARC’s Urem al-Kubra head Omar Barakat and a number of truck drivers and other workers.
“Anti-Syrian forces are expending all their energy and capabilities to prolong the terrorist war against Syria”, Assad said.
But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations.
“The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian army’s positions in Deir Ezzor to the benefit of Daesh” on Saturday, he added, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
“What happened today has dealt a serious blow to efforts to bring peace to Syria”, said a senior United States administration official, who added that the strike “raises very serious questions about whether the Russians can deliver their end of the arrangement” to rein in the Syrian regime.
Elsewhere at least 20 civilians, including a 1-year-old girl, were killed in fresh airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city and surrounding areas, according to the Observatory.
The truce also includes the demilitarisation of the Castello Road, the main route for humanitarian assistance into the divided Syrian city of Aleppo.
“I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care”, O’Brien said in a statement Monday.
A statement from US Central Command said the coalition conferred with the Russian military before the strike.
Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers.
The Syrian government forces have in fact also repeatedly been accused of violating the truce.
The Syrian military statement placed the blame squarely on the rebel groups. “It is the only basis on which the worldwide community can (proceed)”, Ayrault told reporters, adding he wanted Washington and Moscow to include the rest of the Syria support group into the ceasefire plan so that they could create a mechanism to monitor ceasefire violations.
The United States expressed its “regret” over the incident, which Russian Federation said killed scores of Syrian troops. The Pentagon admitted it may have hit Syrian troops but said it had been tracking an ISIS position there.
A mistaken air raid by the USA -led coalition also killed 62 Syrian soldiers.
The Saturday airstrikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions.
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Earlier Saturday, Syria and Russian Federation had accused the USA -led coalition of striking a Syrian army base and blamed the raid for an Islamic State advance in the area.
