In a blistering speech at the United Nations, John Kerry said the future of Syria was “hanging by a thread”. “We hope to resume convoys tomorrow and Friday, but still work on security guarantees”.
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The aid trucks that were attacked near the city of Aleppo had recently been given permission to enter the areas.
The attack occurred hours after Syrian forces called off a weeklong, nationwide cease-fire brokered by Russian Federation and the USA, who are on opposing sides of the civil war between Bashar al-Assad’s government and Syrian opposition groups.
The Russian diplomat added that Moscow didn’t believe Washington capable of exerting control over the various rebel groups arrayed against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of a cease-fire deal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a Security Council Meeting September 21, 2016 on the situation in Syria at the United Nations in NY.
Despite escalating violence, United Nations officials pledged to resume aid deliveries to besieged areas, where an estimated 1 million Syrians live in dire need of humanitarian aid.
Ban Ki-Moon, the outgoing United Nations secretary general, called the attack “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate”.
The U.N. later rolled back on claims that the convoy was targeted by an airstrike.
Russian Federation on Wednesday said a Predator drone from the US-led coalition flew over an aid convoy in Syria when it was destroyed, denying again that it bombed the humanitarian column.
The violence against aid workers added to the failure of the U.S. -Russia brokered ceasefire proposed earlier this month.
Moscow has firmly denied involvement in the attacks.
The U.S. initially said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack on the aid convoy.
Secretary of State Kerry said he sometimes feels like he’s living in a “parallel universe” to his Russian counterpart on the subject of Syria.
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the ministry, said allegations that Moscow was responsible were an attempt to distract attention from the US-led coalition’s bombing of Syrian soldiers near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday. The U.N. estimates that some 6 million Syrians live in such areas.
Four medical staff were killed and a nurse critically wounded in an air strike on a village near Syria’s second city Aleppo late on Tuesday, their aid group said. Twenty civilians were killed when the Syrian Red Crescent convoy was struck.
People inspect a damaged site after airstrikes on the rebel held al-Qaterji neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria.
The Russian and Syrian governments called off a week-old cease-fire on Monday, citing violations by opposition forces.
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Separately, a Syrian warplane has crashed north of Damascus, the UK-based Syrian Observatory says.
