The Thursday talks broke up after Russian Federation refused U.S. demands that it promise to immediately ground the Syrian regime’s air force.
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The air campaign was followed by an announcement late Thursday by Syria’s military command in Aleppo that it is launching new operations in rebel-held eastern quarters of the city.
Secretary of State John Kerry was informed of the Syrian military’s decision to restart operations in Aleppo when his chief of staff showed him a headline on his BlackBerry during a meeting of the International Syrian Support Group on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in NY.
“Any truce, seven days, three days, would be senseless, because…”
One of the main objectives of the ceasefire was to allow aid to enter besieged areas.
“We are trying to see by all means available how we can reach east Aleppo”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
According to one official present in the gathering, Kerry was informed of the news when his chief of staff showed him a headline on his BlackBerry.
But army officials said there would be exit points for anyone, including rebels, who wanted to flee.
The bombardment left no doubt that the Syrian government and its Russian allies had spurned a plea from US Secretary of State John Kerry to halt flights to resurrect the ceasefire, which lasted a week before collapsing on Monday.
“We can’t be the only ones trying to hold this door open”, Mr Kerry said.
The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, had earlier accused the regime in Damascus of aiming to divide Syria with its offensive against Aleppo, saying it wanted to take back the “useful” part of the country, meaning the territory from Damascus in the south to Aleppo in the north.
He said, “Those convoys were in the area of the militants, the area under the control of the terrorists”.
“I don’t believe the United States will be ready to join Russian Federation in fighting terrorists in Syria.the United States is not genuine regarding having a cessation of violence in Syria”, he said.
Kerry had yesterday at a press briefing said that the United States has exchanged ideas with the Russian Federation and plan to consult them with respect to those ideas.
Assad said USA strikes, which killed 62 Syrian government troops in Deir ez-Zor on September 17, were “intentional” and they lasted for an hour.
Lavrov had sought a three-day pause in fighting to revive the cease-fire.
The bombardment came aday after the Syrian army announced an offensive to recapture east Aleppo, which has been held by the rebels since mid-2012 but has been surrounded by government forces since July.
American officials described the two-and-a-half-hour meeting in the Palace Hotel as “contentious”.
On September 9, Kerry and Lavrov met in Geneva and agreed to call a ceasefire, with Moscow responsible for forcing Assad’s forces to stand down and allow in United Nations aid convoys.
Konashenkov said the attack doesn’t appear to have been from an airstrike.
At the U.N., Assad’s other major supporter also rejected the US -led call for aircraft to be grounded.
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And he said the United States “doesn’t have the will” to join Russian Federation in fighting Islamic militants in his country. Assad’s air force must cease attacks.
