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Syria aid halted after deadly convoy attack
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UNITED Nations suspended all aid shipments into Syria yesterday after a deadly attack on a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies, as a week-old US-Russian sponsored cease-fire collapsed in renewed violence.
Washington said it was “outraged” by the apparent airstrike that hit a 31-truck aid convoy late on Monday.
Russia, which is allied to the government of President Bashar Assad, denied that either its air force or that of the Syrian armed forces were responsible. The Syrian army also denied blame.
Moscow said only insurgents knew the full whereabouts of the convoy, but this contradicted the United Nations, which said all parties had been notified and the trucks were clearly marked.
The Syrian Red Crescent said the head of one of its local offices and “around 20 civilians” were killed.
The strike appeared to deliver a death blow to the cease-fire, the latest failed attempt to halt a war, now in its sixth year, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the world’s worst refugee crisis.
Syria’s army declared the cease-fire over on Monday, hours before the strike. While the United States initially said it was still hopeful of extending the truce, US officials acknowledged in the wake of the attack that there might no longer be any agreement left to salvage.
That would most likely wreck the last hope of any breakthrough on Syria before the administration of President Barack Obama leaves office in January, meaning his successor will inherit a war that has split the Middle East on sectarian lines and drawn in global and regional powers.
The cease-fire was meant to halt all fighting and allow aid to reach besieged areas, at a time when pro-government forces, with Russian and Iranian military support, are in their strongest positions for years and civilians in many rebel-held areas are cut off from food and medical supplies.
“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 Laercke, a UN humanitarian aid spokesman, told a briefing.
The attack on the convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent destroyed 18 of its total of 31 trucks.
“If this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime,” UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said in a statement.
Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called it a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.
While there were contradictory reports of the full death toll, one of those killed was the head of the Syrian Red Crescent for the area, Omar Barakat.
The team on the ground was “in shock,” said ICRC’s Middle East chief, Robert Mardini.
The UN had only just received permission from the Syrian government to deliver aid to all besieged areas in the country, and had notified Washington and Moscow of the convoy’s route.
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