The truce took effect last Monday with the goal of creating a joint U.S. -Russia military facility to coordinate airstrikes on the Islamic State group and an al-Qaida affiliate.
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A key plank of the truce deal was the delivery of aid to areas including Aleppo, where an estimated 250,000 people in rebel-held areas of the city are living under government siege.
“We do not know if the truce will be extended again”, he added.
Russian Federation took the side of the Syrian government, blaming the rebels for violating the truce.
The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the cease-fire would last until midnight Sunday but it’s not clear if the U.S. -Russia-brokered deal set a time limit for the truce.
“The attack was immediately stopped when a report from the Russian side said that a Syrian military position had been hit”, the statement read. The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired.
Assad called that incident “flagrant aggression”.
The State Department later said that it was ready to work with Russian Federation to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid.
“I believe that, practically, it has failed and has ended”, said Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of the Aleppo-based group Fastaqim, adding that it remained to be seen if anything could be done “in theory” to save it.
United Nations officials have blamed Damascus for blocking aid deliveries to other besieged, rebel-held areas. It said the armed groups also took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas.
He denounced the Syrian military declaration, but also suggested that Russian Federation was partly to blame.
“We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods”, Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
In the wake of the Syrian announcement, Kerry expressed annoyance at Damascus and Moscow’s handling of the cease-fire.
Under the US-Russia deal, if the truce lasts seven days and humanitarian access is granted, Moscow and Washington are to work together to target jihadists including the Islamic State group (IS). He claimed on Monday that the Syrian government forces have observed the truce unilaterally, despite the continuing rebel violations. The statement said the rebels wasted a “real chance” to stop the bloodshed.
The UN also wants to deliver aid to other hard-to-reach parts of the country, but says it has not received the necessary permissions from the government to proceed.
The air strikes, which have further undermined an already fraying ceasefire between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and anti-regime rebels, are now being investigated by the US-led coalition.
Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed rebel-held areas in the city of Aleppo and nearby villages, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, reporting a number of dead and injured.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking in NY, expressed regret for the Syrian soldiers’ deaths during the action in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, but hinted there were blatant “contradictions” in Russia’s vocal anger following the attacks.
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The air strike on a Syrian army position by the USA -led coaltion on Saturday triggered a fierce war of words between Washington and Moscow, with Russian Federation saying it put the agreement under threat.
