Meanwhile, the United Nations said Friday that it is looking into delivering aid to rebel-held east Aleppo via another route, as the main throughway into the area was blocked by the threat of the regime airstrikes.
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Laerke told AFP in an email that this was the first convoy to head towards a besieged area since Monday’s attack on a humanitarian convoy which killed around 20 people, including a Red Cross staffer. Russia, then, likely sees little reason to give in to USA demands since it isn’t going to placate them anyhow.
With Syria’s cease-fire in shambles, the United States and Russian Federation are preparing to butt heads once again over ways to revive it.
“We have exchanged ideas with the Russians and we plan to consult tomorrow with respect to those ideas”, John Kerry told reporters on Thursday in NY, at the end of a multilateral meeting which lasted more than two hours and left him “even more frustrated” about efforts to renew the truce.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday he dismissed U.S. claims the regime bombed the convoy as “lies”, adding that it was not strategically sound to target humanitarian workers and that he is “morally committed” to his people’s interests.
He rejected accusations that Syrian or Russian warplanes struck the aid convoy Tuesday and denied that his forces prevented food from entering rebel-held parts of Aleppo.
Assad told AP that Russian Federation was not behind a deadly attack on an aid convoy on Monday, for which USA officials have said they believe Moscow was responsible.
NEW YORK (AP) – The United States and Russian Federation ended any pretenses Thursday of their cease-fire for Syria remaining in force after days of increased violence and the Syrian military’s announcement of a new offensive in Aleppo.
“The question now is whether there remains any real chance of moving forward, because it is clear that we can not continue on the same path any longer”, Kerry said.
The Syrian military announced a new operation against rebels in east Aleppo – where 250,000 civilians live under siege conditions – late on Thursday.
Russias Defense Ministry followed by saying the aid convoy was accompanied by militants in a pickup truck with a mortar, Kerry said, adding that no such evidence exists.
Moscow, which backs Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s government, has denied responsibility for the attack.
His peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, described his long-delayed plans for a multi-step Syrian peace process and transition that appeared, even by his own admission, untethered to reality on the ground.
It was one of Kerry’s most bitter exchanges with Moscow as secretary of state, laced with invective and outrage.
Russian Federation and the United States agreed on September 9 a deal aimed at putting Syria’s peace process back on track.
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“We remain absolutely convinced there is no such thing as a military solution”, Kerry said.
