Under the ceasefire terms this presented a legitimate target, except for the fact that the Russians omitted to inform their new American “allies” that pro-Assad forces, who were supposed to be covered by the ceasefire terms, were operating in the area – until it was too late.
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Both Russia and the Syrian government deny any responsibility. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighborhoods.
He said the attack began around 20 minutes after sunset on Monday and continued for two hours.
Russian Federation and Syria denied their air forces being responsible for the attack.
In the wake of the Syrian military declaration, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the first stage of the truce – which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities – had never really come to fruition.
Two Russian Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes were in the skies above the aid convoy at the exact time it was struck late on Monday, two US officials told Reuters, citing USA intelligence that led them to conclude Russia was to blame. The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russian Federation – after blaming rebels for the violations – suggested it could still be salvaged. The bombing came just after a weeklong ceasefire agreement, brokered by Russian Federation and the USA, came to an abrupt end. The incident, in which 18 trucks from a 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed, looked likely to deal a death blow to diplomatic efforts to halt a civil war now in its sixth year.
However, the White House has taken the position that Russian Federation is responsible for the strike, regardless of whether it was their planes – or the Syrian regime’s – that carried out the attack.
The UN aid chief, Stephen O’Brien, earlier said that the convoy was travelling with all the necessary permits, and that all parties in the conflict had been notified of its route.
Following the attack, a senior Obama administration official said of the ceasefire, “We don’t know if it can be salvaged”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that around 20 civilians were killed in the attack, as well as the director of the Red Crescent’s Urum al-Kubra branch, Omar Barakat. “The shooting needs to stop and the terrorists need to stop attacking Syrian troops”, he said.
“Those who bombed them were cowards”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
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”.
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The United Nations has suspended all aid deliveries in Syria as an immediate security measure.
