Two senior US officials blamed the convoy attack on an airstrike by either Russian Federation or Syria and said it called into question the viability of the truce going forward. Banners read in Arabic: “Hunger better than humiliation, ‘ one banner read”.
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The coordinator of Syria’s main opposition group said on Monday the ceasefire never took hold and called on the world to put an end to the “criminality” of the Syrian government.
The United Nations confirmed the convoy was hit but gave no details on who carried out the attack or how many died as world leaders converged on NY for their annual U.N. gathering under the shadow of fresh violence in the Syrian civil war. “While we have seen comments attributed to the Syrian military, our arrangement is with Russian Federation, which is responsible for the Syrian regime’s compliance, so we expect Russian Federation to clarify their position”, he said. “The convoy was the outcome of long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians”.
“Our outrage at this attack is enormous”, de Mistura said in a statement emailed to Reuters by his spokesman in Geneva. He stressed that all parties received notification of the convoy, which was carrying aid for about 78,000 people.
At least 18 of 31 trucks in a United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy were hit along with an SARC warehouse, said United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
SiegeWatch, a project created in 2015 by the Syria Institute which claims United Nations data is often incomplete, estimates as of July this year that one million Syrians remain trapped in at least 40 areas, and another 1.4 million live in areas which are now “siege-like” and at risk of deteriorating.
The attack on the convoy is likely to provoke anger at the UN General Assembly in NY, with the delivery of aid to desperate Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas stressed as a key condition of the deal by Washington. The Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure.
Egeland added, “It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses”.
“There can be no explanation or excuse, no reason or rationale for waging war on fearless and selfless humanitarian workers”, O’Brien said in a statement.
And a child was killed in regime shelling on Aleppo’s outskirts earlier Monday.
The week-old cease-fire had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country.
Aid deliveries to besieged areas were a key part of the cessation of hostilities deal brokered last week.
Speaking Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Kerry said some humanitarian assistance is moving but it’s too soon to say if it will meet the requirements of the cease-fire deal.
The State Department said that it was ready to work with Russian Federation to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Kirby said that the USA expects Russian Federation to clarify its position. That was to be set up after seven days of reduced violence and sustained aid deliveries to Aleppo and other areas. A hard thing to arrange since there have been significant violations from both sides.
The two officials said that there were “strong indications” the attack was an airstrike and ruled out the possibility the USA -led coalition was responsible.
A Syrian rebel official said the truce had ended, and there was no hope the eastern Aleppo aid would be delivered.
The SOHR reported civilian deaths from airstrikes in Idlib on Friday and in Aleppo on Sunday, though it didn’t identify the perpetrators. Sabra believes the brokered agreement is “clinically dead”.
Overall there are 18 areas designated as besieged or hard-to-reach, most surrounded by the Syrian army, and some by rebel forces and Isis. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. The official also said the USA will continue to pursue compliance with the cessation of hostilities as it continues military action against IS and an al-Qaida-affiliated group.
Power said “Russia is not delivering on its end of the deal that we spent months negotiating in extremely technical detail”, and “has to deliver the Assad regime, as in the course of the negotiations it assured us it would”.
A major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russian Federation and Iran, another major ally of President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truce’s failure. In the five-and-a-half years since Assad’s regime cracked down on a March 2011 anti-government demonstration, an estimated 430,000 people have been killed. “Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo”, the group said in a statement sent to reporters.
The seven-day ceasefire declared by the Syrian army expired at midnight with no announcement of its extension.
The Observatory and Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in the southern province of Daraa, said government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the village of Dael, killing at least eight and wounding a large number of people.
The strikes late on Monday came just hours after the Syrian military declared the week-long U.S.
Russian Federation and the United States agreed a deal during talks in Geneva earlier this month to pressure both Moscow’s ally Assad and US-backed rebels to obey a ceasefire.
A mistaken air raid by the US-led coalition also killed 62 Syrian soldiers. The cease-fire, which does not apply to attacks on IS, has already been the subject of disputes between Moscow and Washington, with each accusing the other of failing to fully implement it.
“Anti-Syrian forces are expending all their energy and capabilities to prolong the terrorist war against Syria”, Assad said.
Russia’s number one priority in Syria is ensuring the integrity of the territories now held by the Syrian government, America’s former Syria envoy said Monday.
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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.
