Syria truce hangs in the balance amid attacks, lack of aid

“As soon as the commanders were advised that there were Syrian government forces affected the operation was discontinued and we regret the loss of life”, said Turnbull. The statement also clarifies that it “would never target a known Syrian military unit or actively support Daesh”.

Senator Payne would not say which aircraft were involved, what proportion of the planes were Australian or whether Australia played a leading role.

In a statement Monday, the Syrian military said that “armed terrorist groups” repeatedly violated the cease-fire which came into effect last week. The UN says trucks won’t roll until the United States and Russian Federation certify the supply route as safe for the convoy.

In turn, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russian Federation to “stop the grandstanding, stop the showboating and get the humanitarian assistance going”.

The meeting produced “zero” results, Jaafari said, because the US, Britain and France refused to “take measures” to atone for Saturday’s air strikes.

An Australian defense department statement said its jets had targeted Syrian army positions.

The deal was further strained by US-led coalition strikes on Syrian army positions in the east that killed dozens of government soldiers.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said on Sunday the air strikes aimed to sink the U.S.

The U.S. military has said it might have mistakenly struck Syrian troops while carrying out an air raid against IS in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The statement claimed Australian warplanes mistook army positions for Daesh (ISIL) fighters.

The attack was executed by two F-16s and two A-10 support bombers, which entered Syrian air space from Iraq without authorisation from the Assad regime.

Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo, a key point in the truce agreement, have not reached their destination.

Moscow laid the blame for Sunday’s violence squarely on the opposition.

The United Nations says it still lacks sufficient security guarantees from both sides to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of the city which has been divided for years and which pro-government forces completely encircled this month.

Konashenkov says Moscow still has not been able to get in touch with the USA -backed opposition to coordinate cease-fire efforts despite Washington’s assurances. He said the U.S. has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire. The al-Rahman Legion, part of a Free Syrian Army rebel alliance, said its fighters had destroyed a government tank and killed soldiers after government forces tried to storm Jobar for the second time this week. On the other hand, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights placed the death toll at around 90.

A Syrian ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russian Federation was in deep trouble on Monday as a rebel official said it had practically failed and signalled insurgents were preparing for a full resumption of fighting. The ceasefire had largely held but violations continued to persist and aid convoys could not reach the besieged areas of Aleppo.

Under the terms of their agreement, the USA was supposed to rein in opposition forces and Moscow was to ensure its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad halted attacks.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised the United States as being obstructive and deceptive regarding the raid by coalition warplanes which left at least 83 Syrian soldiers dead. A statement by the Syrian foreign ministry says its units have been continuously attacked in strikes that were “on objective and planned in advance”.