The group also reported that convoys carrying humanitarian aid shipments had not received permission to enter the city, which desperately needs them.
Advertisement
Last Monday, a Russian-US ceasefire was implemented in Syria, bringing relative calm to the most troubled areas, including Aleppo. At least 12 aid worke.
A general view in Aleppo, Syria in September 2016.
The strikes came shortly after Syria’s army declared an end to the ceasefire between the regime and non-jihadist rebels brokered by Russian Federation and the United States.
The United States said it was outraged at the attack and stressed that the destination of the convoy was known to the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia.
Neither Kerry nor Lavrov spoke to reporters Tuesday morning at the Palace Hotel in NY. Activists say the regime or its allies are to blame.
“Coalition forces believed they were striking a Daesh fighting position”, the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to the militant group by its Arabic acronym.
There has been no sign of compromise on the issue at the heart of the war: the future of Assad, who enjoys firm Iranian and Russian military backing that is buttressing his strongest military position in years.
Syrian state TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that reports about the Syrian army targeting an aide convoy are not true.
The impasse came as a seven-day cease-fire, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation but interrupted by gunfire and airstrikes, ended Monday.
“The important thing is the Russians need to control Assad, who evidently is indiscriminately bombing-including of humanitarian convoys”, Mr. Kerry said.
His remarks were carried on Tuesday by the state news agency Tass.
The coalition’s weekend attack killed 62 Syrian soldiers.
Five missiles attacked the trucks parked at a warehouse belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent in Urm al-Kubra, a witness was quoted as saying by Reuters.
ICRC president Peter Maurer says the attack was a “flagrant violation of worldwide humanitarian law” and “totally unacceptable”.
Syria’s civil war has killed 430,000 people since 2011, according to some estimates, and has displaced millions more from their homes.
Ibrahim Alhaj told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Syrian civilians will pay the price for the decision.
The UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said if the “callous attack” was found to be deliberate it would amount to a crime. Media reports said eighteen of a total of 31 trucks were struck.
Airstrikes hit a U.N. Humanitarian convoy in Syria on Monday.
Spokesman Jens Laerke of OCHA says the temporary suspension of the aid deliveries would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria.
Russian and US officials met in Geneva on Monday to try to extend the truce, and the International Syria Support Group – the countries backing the Syria peace process – was scheduled to meet on Tuesday in NY to assess the agreement.
He said Australia’s rules of engagement were to target Isis, but that the environment in Syria was very complex.
The attack came just hours after Syrian authorities declared an end to a fragile ceasefire in the war-torn country. -Russian brokered ceasefire had failed, and United Nations officials reported many dead and seriously wounded.
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 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, also reported that shells and rockets were raining down on the northern city.
The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province.
After months of negotiations, the United States and Russian Federation agreed on September 9 to call for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria.
Advertisement
It says a joint convoy of 45 ICRC, Syrian Arab Red Crescent and United Nations trucks delivered almost 17,000 food parcels as well as 1,000 bulk food rations to the town of 84,000 residents on Monday.
