“It is important there is a proper investigation to determine who was responsible”.
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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.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russia Defense Ministry spokesman, said that Moscow stopped monitoring the convoy after it made it to the village of Big Orem.
“It is clearly seen in the video that a terrorists’ pickup truck with a towed large-caliber mortar is moving along with the convoy”, he said.
The Syrian government has cut off supplies to rebel-held areas, with staples such as flour and medicine unavailable or prohibitively expensive. “Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called it a ‘flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.
“Failing to respect and protect humanitarian workers and structures might have serious repercussions on ongoing humanitarian operations in the country, hence depriving millions of people from aid essential to their survival”.
The UN has suspended all aid convoys in Syria after a devastating attack on its lorries near Aleppo on Monday.
The U.N. on Tuesday announced the suspension of its operations to delivery humanitarian assistance after the attack on a convoy that killed 20 civilians.
In battleground second city Aleppo, air raids and artillery fire hit rebel-held districts until approximately 2:00 am (2300 GMT Monday), an AFP correspondent said. It is unbelievable that this could happen to a regular humanitarian convoy, giving detailed information about where the convoy was heading, when, how many trucks and what they were carrying.
World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said in a statement that the United Nations food agency had airdropped aid to the besieged eastern city of Deir el-Zour earlier Tuesday “as part of the planned schedule of deliveries”. The convoy was also carrying winter clothes and blankets.
Under the ceasefire agreement, the United States and Russian Federation would begin exploring military cooperation in Syria if violence is reduced and aid convoys are able to get to Aleppo and other besieged areas within a week after the cease-fire began. The convoy was delivering aid for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Urm al-Kubra in Aleppo Governorate, he said.
Rhodes said that while America’s preference is to continue with the ceasefire effort, which paves the way for more cooperation between the Russian and United States militaries operating in Syria, Moscow’s actions going forward could prevent further coordination.
But the two powers were quick to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire, and Moscow has long opposed the USA position of supporting and arming what it calls moderate rebels to fight ISIS. “We remain committed and undeterred to continue to the best of our ability to help all Syrians in need”.
A humanitarian aid group said the death toll was higher.
A member of the Syrian Civil Defense criticized the United Nations humanitarian aid agency for suspending the convoys.
Speaking in Moscow, however, the Kremlin spokesman Peskov said hopes of reviving the cease-fire deal were, for now, “very weak”.
Kirby further elaborated on the difficulties found by foreign forces present in Syria to distinguish moderate opposition fighters from ISIS-styled extremists.
“These supplies were for children who have already suffered more than five years of war”.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Monday night’s attack “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate”.
In unusually blunt language, Mr Ban said “powerful patrons… feeding the war machine, also have blood on their hands”.
“Just when we think it can not get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower”, he told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in NY.
The victims of the attack were mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
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Although the ceasefire appeared to initially reduce the amount of violence in hard-hit areas like Aleppo, the delivery of humanitarian aid was delayed for days due to security concerns.
