A UN aid convoy delivering food relief to a rebel-held area near Aleppo was targeted in an airstrike, as a week-old ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US collapsed with a new surge of Syrian government bombing.
The US said it blamed Russia for the attack on the convoy, whether or not Russian planes were involved, arguing Moscow was responsible under the ceasefire agreement for reining in Bashar al-Assad’s government forces.
The attack on the convoy, made up of Syrian Red Crescent trucks carrying UN-supplied food, was reported to have killed at least 12 people and destroyed 18 trucks laden with food intended for tens of thousands of people cut off by the war in a rural area west of Aleppo city.
Aid officials said it was hit from the air while unloading food at a warehouse in opposition controlled Urem al-Kubra. Early reports suggested most of the dead were Syrian Red Crescent drivers.
Stephen O’Brien, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said that the convoy had been clearly marked and its route had been provided to all parties to the conflict.
“Let me be clear: if this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime,” O’Brien said. “I call for an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into this deadly incident. The perpetrators should know that they will one day be held accountable for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
The US state department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement: “The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian federation and yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people.”
The full article is available on The Guardian's website: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/19/syria-ceasefire-is-over-sa...