Syria: Airstrikes Hit Aleppo For the First Time Since Ceasefire

Russia said that the future of the truce is uncertain after the Syrian army was attacked by the US-led coalition.

In a 2012 file photo, file photo, smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district, in Aleppo, Syria. (Photo: AP)

Warplanes attacked the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday for the first time since a seven-day ceasefire came into effect almost a week ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Rockets hit the neighbourhood of Karam al-Jabal, Karam al-Beek, Sakhour and Sheikh Hadar. There were reports of injuries, the war monitor said.

At least 18 of 31 trucks in a UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy were hit along with an SARC warehouse, said United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The convoy was delivering aid for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Urm al-Kubra in Aleppo Governorate, he said.

Fourteen Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers were killed, Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a UN summit.

In a file photo from 13 September, activists in Syria’s besieged Aleppo protest against the United Nations for what they say is its failure to lift the siege off their rebel-held area. (Photo: AP)

The UN gave no details on who carried out the attack or how many died as world leaders converged on New York an annual UN gathering under the shadow of fresh violence in the Syrian civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the attacks were carried out by either Syrian or Russian aircraft, adding that there had been 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended.

In this grab taken from video provided by the Syrian Civil Defence White Helmets, a member of the team describes the damage after an airstrike, in Aleppo, Syria, Monday, 19 September 2016. (Photo: AP)

The Syria Truce

• A deal was negotiated between Russia and the US resulting in a nationwide ceasefire from Monday between Syrian government and the armed partition barring the Jihadist groups
  
• If the ceasefire holds, it will be renewed every 48 hours
  
• The ceasefire would result in uninterrupted humanitarian access to beseiged areas including Aleppo
  
• If the truce sustains for seven weeks, US and Russia together will bomb militant groups
  
• The truce requires ‘legitimate’ oppositions to maintain distance from such militant groups
  
• Scepticism hovers over the deal as US supports anti-rebel groups and Moscow is an alleged ally of Syrian government
  
• According to the USA, this deal would pave the way for a political transition
  

Russia said that the future of the truce is uncertain after the Syrian army in Deir-al-Zour was attacked by the US-led coalition.

The US, on the other hand, said it was an ‘unintentional’ mistake. However, President Bashar-al-Assad’s media adviser Bouthaina Shaaban dismissed this claim. She said such a big mishap can’t be expected from the world’s superpower, in an interview to the BBC.

Nonetheless, the attack has put a very big question mark over the future of the truce, said Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin to BBC.

(Source: Reuters and BBC)