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Syrian or Russian warplanes bomb Aleppo, casualties reported: monitor

Air raids hit aid trucks near the city of Aleppo on Monday, a monitoring group reported, as the Syrian military declared that a week-long ceasefire was over.

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He had earlier described the truce as “holding but fragile”. Mohammed Khandakani, a resident, says one of the bombs fell near his house in the center of the city.

The ceasefire came into effect on September 12.

Rebels also said they believed the ceasefire was probably over.

The military said insurgents had failed to adhere to the agreement.

David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said earlier Monday that a convoy on trucks was crossing into Orum al-Kubra with “wheat flour, health supplies and other emergency supplies” for 78,000 people in the area.

Talbiseh is besieged by government forces.

“Multiple sources have confirmed that the town was shelled this evening”, he said.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the cease-fire threatens to thwart the agreement.

“This regime of calm was supposed to be a real opportunity to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement”, the army said in a statement.

Activists and rebel groups also accuse the government of violating the cease-fire.

Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. Spokesman Kirby called on Russian Federation, which is responsible for ensuring Syria’s compliance, to clarify the Syrian position.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed hope that a cease-fire in Syria brokered by the United States and Russian Federation could still hold, despite a declaration from the Syrian military that the truce is over amid other indications the latest global attempt to quiet the fighting has failed. “There is no hope of aid being delivered now”.

Speaking to Iran’s deputy foreign minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Assad accused world powers of supporting “terrorist organisations” in Syria like the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syria’s armed forces “exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups”, it said.

A statement from US Central Command said the coalition conferred with the Russian military before the strike.

The Russian military is warning that for Syrian government forces, observing the U.S. -Russia-brokered cease-fire has become “meaningless” in view of continuous rebel violations of the truce.

Syria’s nascent ceasefire hung in the balance Monday after an airstrike on a United Nations aid convoy led the U.S. to question Russia’s commitment to calming violence in the war-torn country and its ability to influence its ally in Damascus.

Stephen Ryan, coordinator for Red Crescent and Red Cross said that dozens of the group’s volunteers have been killed since the onset of the protracted military conflict in Syria. “But we don’t have all the facts at this point”.

He didn’t explain whether this means Moscow is opting out of the cease-fire and giving the Syrian government the free hand to freely use force again. Gone were the loftier ambitions of creating a new, U.S. American officials said, however, that conditions were still not right for U.S.

The strike has threatened an already fragile US – and Russia-brokered cease-fire that has largely held despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides.

“We regret the loss of life – there’s an investigation underway at the moment”.

Syrian state TV is reporting that government warplanes are attacking positions of the Islamic State group in eastern Deir el-Zour province. Such deliveries began only on Monday and were available only in limited areas, he said.

“The most recent example of this is the flagrant United States aggression on a Syrian Arab Army position in Deir Ezzor for the benefit of ISIS”.

A USA airstrike on Syrian forces on Saturday also caused trouble. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside the country, reported the casualty figures.

Despite numerous violations by the government and Syrian rebels, the USA has few other options for ending a conflict that has killed a half-million people, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State group to emerge as a global threat. -Russian military partnership against Islamic State militants and al-Qaida, once envisioned to start Tuesday.

Uncertainties are prevailing about the truce, which is now in its seventh day.

Kerry said Assad’s government is blocking humanitarian aid from reaching some of Syria’s hardest-hit areas and has continued the violence, and he said Russian Federation must pressure Assad. There have been remarks from the Syrian military in Damascus that the truce might be extended by 72 hours. “The regime and Russians are taking revenge on all the areas”, he said.

CNN analyst retired Lt. Col. Francona said Saturday the airstrike could have jeopardized the plan for Moscow and Washington to work together.

The US strike was “an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness”, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said Saturday.

The Danish Armed Forces say it is “regrettable if the coalition mistakenly hit” government forces instead of IS militants. The Pentagon said the strike was accidental and U.S. officials expressed regret, but Russian Federation and Syria raised the possibility that the United States was acting in support of ISIS.

Aid was delivered to tens of thousands in rebel-held Talbisseh, where at least two people were killed by shelling during the truce. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone.

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Syria’s army said the seven day truce period had ended.

Syria truce'to end Monday evening