But he also urged the parties, including Russian Federation, to revive the peace process by grounding aircraft in “key areas” where humanitarian aid would be delivered.
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The agreement between Russian Federation and the United States, which went into effect September 12, reduced the overall level of violence for a number of days, despite violations in the divided city of Aleppo and other parts of northern Syria held by insurgents opposed to Assad.
He also said an airstrike on an aid convoy in Aleppo raised “profound doubt” as to whether Russian Federation and the Syrian government were committed to upholding the cessation of hostilities.
Earlier this month, the USA and Russia brokered a deal, but the cease-fire has been on the verge of a breakdown after the US -led coalition inadvertently bombed Russian-backed Syrian government forces this weekend and a convoy delivering humanitarian aid was bombed. Eventually negotiations would be take place on the “political transition” called for in a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions. “Supposedly we all want the same goal. a secular united Syria. but we are all proving to be woefully inadequate to come to the table and have that discussion”.
The violence against aid workers added to the failure of the U.S. -Russia brokered ceasefire proposed earlier this month.
Russian Federation has forwarded various explanations for the destruction of the convoy, most recently suggesting an armed US drone in the vicinity of the site of the attack may have been responsible.
“This (Kerry’s) plan won’t work”, it cited him as saying.
Mr Kerry called for Russian and Syrian government aircraft to be grounded in parts of the country so the deal can be extended.
Kerry contrasted the Russians’ denials with the prompt admission by the United States that it had accidentally bombed Syrian soldiers last Saturday, mistaking them for Islamic State fighters: “We did it, a bad accident”.
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Kerry’s demand Wednesday that all aircraft be grounded was part of a USA effort to bring about urgent change. “Only its owners know why the drone was in the area at the right time and what kind of tasks it was pursuing there”. Much of the global community hailed that outcome, only to watch it unravel amid an upsurge in violence that included an accidental USA strike that killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers. He called for the U.N.to expand its terrorism list to include groups at the fringes of a USA -backed rebel umbrella group and called Washington’s errant strike an “outrageous violation”. It would eliminate the risk that another aid convoy could be struck from the air because no aircraft could fly over the areas where the assistance was to be delivered.
