Adviser pleads let this be the bleakest moment as dozens of deaths in rebel-held districts signal further the collapse of truce
The United Nations has said it is ready to resume sending aid into besieged Syrian townships. But as Aleppo suffered its worst bombardment in months, the UN cautioned it could do so only if fresh assurances were given that convoys would not be ambushed.
Dozens of Syrians were killed overnight in rebel-held districts of Aleppo during airstrikes that signalled further the breakdown on the ground of a ceasefire deal negotiated by Washington and Moscow.
The airliners have not left the citys skies and the bombing is continuous and indiscriminate, said one activist inside opposition-controlled eastern Aleppo. Heavy conflicts gripped the citys outskirts after airstrikes triggered major flames, with local activists blaming incendiary bombs.
Its so close to my house and I can see the flame, said one resident in a voice message sent two hours after midnight. There is fire in the sky.
Diplomats from the US and Russia are to meet with other leading player in New York later on Thursday for last-ditch efforts to resurrect the ceasefire.
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, earlier rejected US accusations that Syrian or Russian airliners had struck a Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy outside Aleppo in an attack that killed aid workers and volunteers. He denied that his troops were avoiding food from entering the rebel-held part of the city.
Speaking in Geneva, Jan Egeland, the UNs special adviser on humanitarian affairs in Syria, said the attack had left a cloud over a whole aid-delivery system that had acted as a lifeline to millions of Syrians. The UN, eager to bring Russia and the US back to negotiations, refused to blame Russia for the attack on the aid escort, or even to say if the attack was caused by air or ground weaponry. But it did say there had been no warns to the UN from armed opposition groups around Aleppo that they would oppose the convoy.
Calling for an inquiry free of Russian or American military control, Egeland said we owe it to those who died and were wounded that such an investigation happens.
He described the incident as the worst assault ever sustained on a cross-line convoy in the five-year Syrian conflict, and said it was sustained, recurred and devastating. In such circumstances, Egeland asked, how can humanitarian workers believe they can continue their sacred service to Syrian people?
Nevertheless, Egeland said that if there were a reboot of the security guarantees given by the parties to the conflict, the escorts could recommence. He added that convoys were beginning to be loaded, ready go to the towns of Moadamiya, Al-waer, Zabadani, Foua, Kefraya and Madaya in the next few days.
Let this be the turning point. Let this be the bleakest moment, he pleaded.
Speaking at the same briefing in Geneva, the UN deputy special envoy for Syria, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said here main aim of the International Syria Support group meeting in New York on Thursday would be to agree a revitalised ceasefire, leading to a resumption of peace talks within weeks.
There is, however, little confidence that such a breakthrough is possible following acrimonious the interaction between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and Russia at the UN security council.
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