The row erupted amid mounting reports of ceasefire violations – including air strikes by Syrian government forces on rebel held areas of the beleaguered city of Aleppo.
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No details were immediately available on the strike, but the second United States administration official said it was clearly an air attack and that US-led coalition jets weren’t responsible.
The United States on Tuesday blamed Russian Federation for an overnight attack on an aid convoy that killed 20 civilians as the U.N. announced it was suspending overland aid deliveries in Syria, jeopardizing food and medical security for millions of besieged and hard-to-reach civilians. However, he also repeated calls for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo and other besieged communities.
It accused “terrorist groups”, a term the government uses for all insurgents, of exploiting the calm to rearm while violating the ceasefire 300 times, and vowed to “continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability”.
“It would be good if they didn’t talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this”, he told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The Syrian military has declared a U.S. -Russia brokered ceasefire over just a week after it began.
Syrian activists and paramedics had said earlier that the airstrikes killed 12 people.
The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russian Federation – after blaming rebels for the violations – suggested it could still be salvaged.
“Much of the aid was destroyed”, the IFRC said in a statement, stressing that “the attack deprives thousands of civilians of much-needed food and medical assistance”.
The cease-fire deal is now threatened with a recent escalation between Moscow and Washington, after the USA -led coaliton airstrikes killed 90 Syrian servicemen in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday.
Washington said it was working to extend the truce but called on Russian Federation to first clarify the Syrian army’s statement that it was over.
Jan Egeland, head of the United Nations humanitarian task force for Syria, tweeted that there were “many killed and injured” in the strike.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said that in more than 10 years at the UN he had “never seen such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness”.
Media activist Wassim al-Ahmad sent a text message to The Associated Press from the besieged town of Madaya, outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, saying residents were asking whether the reports were true that the United Nations was suspending its aid convoys.
The coalition’s weekend attack killed 62 Syrian soldiers.
The US wants to see Russian Federation restrain its close ally President Bashar al-Assad, who has battered opposition forces largely supported by the US.
Syria’s cease-fire has faltered further after an aid convoy was hit by airstrikes, with activists saying at least 12 people were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
Monzer Makhous, a spokesman for the HNC, said it was clear the ceasefire was not being respected, although he did not want to call it completely dead.
“We’re happy to have a good conversation with them and see how we proceed”, he said, of the Russian side.
In a written statement later Monday, the State Department said it has seen the Syrian military’s comment and that it expects Russian Federation to ensure Assad’s compliance with the ceasefire deal. Soon after, its jets struck in and around Aleppo killing and wounding people in the area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the Observatory said on Monday.
Spokesman John Kirby noted the Syrian announcement while stressing that the U.S. and Russian Federation agreed to the arrangement, but the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad has not.
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A paramedic, speaking in a video released by Aleppo 24 News, a media collective, blamed Russian and government warplanes as well as Syrian army helicopter gunships that he said dropped barrel bombs.
