It accused rebel groups of carrying out more than 300 truce violations across the country and of failing to “commit to a single element” of the deal. The statement said the rebels wasted a “real chance” to stop the bloodshed.
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Laerke said on Tuesday that the United Nations aid coordinator had received needed authorizations from the Syrian government in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed within Syria.
Neither Kerry nor Lavrov spoke to reporters Tuesday morning at the Palace Hotel in NY. Aid would be delivered to besieged areas, though the Syrian government prevented that from happening in some cases.
“We don’t know if it can be salvaged”, a senior administration official acknowledged during a conference call while speaking to reporters on condition that he not be named.
Russian Federation – president Bashar Assad’s main foreign backer – said it had been told by the Syrian government that 62 of its troops had been killed in the strike.
With few alternatives for trying to end its civil war, diplomats pressed on with a strategy that appeared to be impressing few and convincing no one.
Iran is one of Assad’s strongest supporters.
Providing new details of the strikes, which complicated what has been a largely unsuccessful cease-fire agreement, Thomas said the US military is appointing a brigadier general to investigate the incident.
Ali Barakat, who also works for the Red Crescent, says Tuesday he threw himself on the floor when the first missile hit and killed his brother, Omar Barakat.
Earlier Monday, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military’s General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. The U.S. military was to subsequently begin intelligence sharing with Moscow on Islamic State and other jihadist targets in the country, though this provision may have been jeopardized over the weekend.
Staffan de Mistura, UN special representative on Syria, said the organisations “outrage at this attack is enormous” and reiterated that the convoy “was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians”. Australian and Danish warplanes were involved in that attack on Syrian army positions.
The statement said the military forces have practiced high self-restraint, and responded in a few cases when it had to do so to silence the fire sources of the rebels.
The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday called on parties concerned to continue to implement the recent Russia-U.S. agreement on a nationwide cease-fire in Syria.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the trucks arrived in the afternoon.
Uncertainties are prevailing about the truce, which is now in its seventh day.
There is no immediate indication that the truce will be extended.
Russia’s military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded.
The Ministry of Defence has admitted that the United Kingdom took part in a US-led coalition airstrike which hit Syrian forces.
He declined to identify the coalition members whose aircraft participated in the strikes, saying only that it was “more than just the United States”. At that point, Thomas said, the strikes were halted in less than five minutes.
The Observatory reported 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended.
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The ceasefire has so far failed to allow aid to be delivered to the besieged city of Aleppo. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone.
