Russian foreign ministry officials also claimed that the strikes showed the USA was defending ISIS in Syria, after the group briefly overran a Syrian regime position following the strike, a claim US ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power categorically dismissed.
Advertisement
The top American and Russian diplomats joined together Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to save Syria’s week-old truce, on a day the pair once envisioned as the start of a new military partnership against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
The ceasefire deal had three key components: fighting between government and rebel forces across Syria would halt, although strikes on Islamic State and other jihadists could continue.
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says that “no kind of air attack on a humanitarian convoy of the United Nations in the southwest outskirts of Aleppo was conducted by Russian or Syrian aviation”.
Asked if the USA was still open to extending ceasefire efforts, a second administration official said Russian Federation now bears the burden of demonstrating its commitment to peace efforts, “otherwise, there will be nothing to extend and nothing to salvage”.
The U.N. humanitarian aid agency suspended all convoys in Syria on Tuesday following deadly airstrikes on aid trucks the previous night that activists said killed at least 12 people, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. Those seven days of calm and aid deliveries were required before the USA and Russian Federation could embark on a plan to cooperate in targeting the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates working in Syria. He claimed on Monday that the Syrian government forces have observed the truce unilaterally, despite the continuing rebel violations.
Syria’s military declared the end of a cease-fire on Monday, blaming rebel groups for violating the truce that went into effect a week ago.
US officials have said hitting the Syrian troops was a mistake and that the strike was meant to hit the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Kerry called the convoy attack an “egregious violation” of the cease-fire and said the U.S.
Aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said, for the first time since July.
At least 32 people were killed in airstrikes in and around Aleppo Monday – including 12 involved in aid delivery, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“Anti-Syrian forces are expending all their energy and capabilities to prolong the terrorist war against Syria”, Assad said.
By Thursday, Russia and the United States were accusing each other of not fulfilling their respective obligations under the agreement.
George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid.
The UN estimates that 18 of 31 trucks in the aid convoy were hit.
On Monday, the opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12.
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.
The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the truce will last until midnight Sunday.
Last month, Turkey for the first time sent tanks across the border into Syria to help rebels clear territory of IS militants and to contain the expansion of a Syrian Kurdish militia.
Advertisement
Kirby noted that the cease-fire arrangement was agreed to by the United States and Russian Federation, which is responsible for the compliance of the Assad government.
