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Syrian government blocks aid convoys despite ceasefire

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman says 62 Syrian soldiers have been reported killed in a USA -led coalition airstrike on a military base.

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The forces had been tracking the position for a significant amount of time before the strike, and the location was in an area the coalition had struck in the past, it said.

The Russian military said 62 Syrian soldiers were killed near Deir Ezzor Airport, according to state-run Sputnik News Agency.

Russian Federation said even if the bombing was a mistake, it showed Washington’s refusal to coordinate its military actions with Russian Federation.

Russian Federation has given fresh assurances it has impressed on the Syrian government it must allow aid into rebel-held east Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, but said it needed reassurances that the United States was putting pressure on Syrian opposition groups to abide by their side of the bargain.

All those warring parties are also sworn enemies of the Islamic State jihadist group, whose territory extends along the Euphrates valley from the Iraqi border, including around Deir al-Zor, up to land near Syria’s frontier with Turkey.

Also tonight a senior Obama administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the USA had expressed regret Saturday to the Syrian regime.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said the outbreak of violence broke the truce agreement.

In a further sign of tensions picking up, the Obama administration warned Russian Federation that potential military cooperation in Syria will not happen unless humanitarian aid begins to flow into Aleppo and other besieged communities. Russian Federation has launched its own raids since intervening to prop up the Syrian government a year ago. The Russian Defense Ministry said it counted 45 ceasefire violations on Thursday alone.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has warned that the aid could not move into Syria’s second city before the Castello Road supply route had been fully secured.

Both sides have accused the other of being responsible for aid deliveries being stuck far from Aleppo, where army and rebel forces were supposed to retire from the Castello Road, which leads into besieged, rebel-held eastern districts.

She said “if we determine that we did, indeed, strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention”.

“If the American side does not take the necessary measures to carry out its obligations.a breakdown of the ceasefire will be on the United States”, Poznikhir said.

A US military official in Baghdad said he was looking into the report, which could not be independently corroborated.

“I don’t really understand why we have to keep such an agreement closed”, Putin said.

“The situation in Syria is worsening”, Russian General Vladimir Savchenko said in a televised briefing earlier.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a woman and child were killed Saturday in Talbiseh, in the central Homs province.

“This is a very unsafe route”, he said.

An opposition activist who is near Damascus, Mazen al-Shami, said government forces had tried to enter Jobar but had been pushed back by opposition fighters.

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Syria’s conflict has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population since March 2011.

A suspected chlorine gas attack in Syria