-Russian brokered cease-fire over. Initial estimates indicated that at least 18 of the 31 lorries in the convoy were hit.
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“As an immediate security measure, other convoy movements in Syria have been suspended for the time being pending further assessment of the security situation”, Jens Laerke, UN humanitarian aid spokesman, told a news briefing in Geneva.
On Monday an aid convoy with United Nations participants was hit in Uram al-Kubra when it tried to reach rebel areas in Aleppo. An AFP correspondent inside Aleppo city reported nearly non-stop bombardment and constant sirens. The military said the armed groups also took advantage of the truce to mobilise and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas.
The week-old ceasefire had brought a brief respite to at least some parts of the war-torn country.
“Well, the Syrians didn’t make the deal”, Kerry told reporters in NY.
“There is no truth to reports circulated by some media outlets that (the) Syrian army targeted the humanitarian aid convoy in rural Aleppo (governorate)”, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting a military source.
“Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally”, said Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy.
Under the agreement, fighting was to halt across Syria and humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.
Al-Halaby said that rebels in Aleppo province also claimed Russian aircraft were behind the attack.
The bloodiest day for civilians was on Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started.
The Syrian observatory said President Bashar Assad’s air force carried out more than 40 air raids since the army announced the end of the ceasefire, killing 36 people. There were no independent reports of deaths of civilians on the government-side since the ceasefire came into effect.
Mr Laerke said yesterday that the United Nations aid coordinator had received needed authorisations from the Syrian government in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed within Syria.
The Syrian military’s statement comes after a senior opposition figure said earlier Monday the ceasefire was “clinically dead” after hundreds of reported violations by the government, according to The Associated Press.
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.
This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed.
It said rebel groups, which it referred to as “terrorists”, had failed to commit to any provisions of the truce deal.
Nour el-Din el-Zinki, one of the major rebel groups in Syria said Russian Federation and Iran, another major ally of President Assad, are responsible for the failure of the week-long ceasefire.
America apologised for the bombing which occurred on a base near the eastern Deir al Zor airport, insisting their intended target was Islamic State fighters, and Theresa May has admitted Britain played a role in the attack while alleging the British military would never “intentionally” strike Syrian forces. The monitoring group could not confirm the definite number of casualties.
(AP PHOTO). Damaged buildings and rubble line a street in Homs, Syria, Sept. 19, 2016.
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The United Nations said it had received government approval to reach almost all the besieged and hard-to-reach areas where it sought to bring aid, but access to many areas was still constrained by fighting, insecurity and administrative delays.
