US and Russia seek to salvage truce; Syria calls it finished

GENEVA, Sept 20 The United Nations asked in vain for warring sides in Syria to stop attacking an aid convoy, the U.N. Syria and regional humanitarian coordinators said in a statement on Tuesday.

Barrel bombs are commonly used by the regime, while rebel and militant groups are not known to have the capacity for air power.

Igor Konashenkov says that the Russian military has “carefully studied the video recordings of the so-called activists from the scene and found no signs that any munitions hit the convoy”.

CNN can not confirm the authenticity of the video or who was responsible for the attack.

The ICRC said around 20 civilians were killed as well as a staff member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the strike on the convoy, which hit 18 of the 31 trucks as well as the warehouse.

Syria’s week-long cease-fire, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation, was in doubt Monday amid repeated violations and with no aid deliveries to the besieged rebel-held part of the northern city of Aleppo, a key point in the truce agreement.

ICRC president Peter Maurer says the attack was a “flagrant violation of worldwide humanitarian law” and “totally unacceptable”.

According to the Red Cross the first report that the trucks and warehouse had been hit came at 8:15 pm local time (1715 GMT), several hours after the Syrian army had declared an end to a week-long partial ceasefire.

The UN has said it does not have sufficient security guarantees from all sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year, to be able to deliver the 40 trucks of aid to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The ceasefire had been called specifically to allow aid into some of the most desperate parts of Syria.

“Failing to respect and protect humanitarian workers and structures might have serious repercussions on ongoing humanitarian operations in the country, hence depriving millions of people from aid essential to their survival”.

Getting aid to areas cut off by fighting has been a growing concern for humanitarian agencies – with trucks destined for eastern Aleppo, where an estimated 250,000 civilians have been short of food, medicine and water. He stressed that all parties received notification of the convoy, which was carrying aid for about 78,000 people.

George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective – opening roads for aid to enter besieged rebel-held areas.

The pictures showed the Urem al-Kubra aid centre, they said.

In a statement, the Foreign Secretary said: “The attack on the aid convoy in Aleppo was appalling and a clear violation of the most basic of humanitarian principles”.

The US State Department also blamed Moscow and the Syrian regime for hampering the delivery of aid.

Rebels, locked in a vicious civil war with the Syrian government, reportedly hold the area where the convoy was struck.

The group, known by its French acronym MSF, has called Tuesday on worldwide powers involved in the conflict to take “more concrete steps” to end attacks on civilian infrastructure.

He added countries “that keep feeding the war machine also have blood on their hands”, and accused unnamed governments attending the United Nations meeting of ignoring, facilitating, funding, planning and carrying out “atrocities” against civilians on all sides.

The U.N. humanitarian aid agency’s decision came after deadly airstrikes on aid trucks the previous night that activists said killed at least 12 people, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. “Those who bombed them were cowards”.