United Nations humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke said the original reference to air strikes was probably a drafting error, saying the United Nations was not in a position to determine if they were air strikes but was sure the convoy was “attacked”.
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Rebels and local rescue workers say the surveillance shows the strikes, which have drawn outrage from the United Nations and Western countries, were deliberate, and gives the lie to Russian and Syrian government denials that they were involved. The aid had been due to be delivered to people in rebel-held areas around Urum al-Kubra, who were last supplied in mid-July.
Syrian activists and paramedics have said the air strikes on the convoy were conducted by Russian or Syrian aircraft.
In unusually blunt language, Mr Ban said “powerful patrons… feeding the war machine, also have blood on their hands”.
French President Francois Hollande blamed the Syrian regime on Tuesday for the collapse of a U.S. -Russia-backed ceasefire and urged foreign backers of regime head Bashar al-Assad to help enforce peace or risk the country fragmenting.
A senior Obama administration official said in briefing with reporters Monday that the attack appeared to be an airstrike and did not come from the US -led coalition.
Senior officials from 23 nations emerged from a one-hour meeting on Syria at a NY luxury hotel with little more than an agreement to meet again, on Friday, about how to end a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and driven millions from their homes.
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.
Russia, which is allied to Assad’s government, denied that either its air force or that of the Syrian armed forces was responsible.
Monday’s strike on the aid convoy provoked outrage from United Nations officials, with aid chief Stephen O’Brien warning that if deliberate “it would amount to a war crime”. ICRC President Peter Maurer said the attack was a “flagrant violation of worldwide humanitarian law” and “totally unacceptable”.
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.
“The shooting needs to stop and the terrorists need to stop attacking Syrian troops”, he said.
The convoy had been tracked from the skies since it left Aleppo in the morning, a rebel who was part of an escort accompanying it said, adding that fighters had shot at the planes, trying to bring them down, but had missed. The official said that the USA does not know yet “whether it was the Russians or the regime”.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman denied the assertion, telling reporters at the United Nations the USA administration “has no facts” to support the claim, adding: “We have nothing to do with this situation”. Several truck drivers and volunteers offloading the aid were killed, he said.
“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, U.N. humanitarian aid spokesman, told a news briefing in Geneva.
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Syrian activists across the border in Turkey told The Independent that parts of Aleppo had been nearly constant bombardment overnight from both regime and also, they claimed, Russian warplanes.
