U.N. Suspends Aid Convoys After Attack

The United Nations suspended all aid deliveries in Syria after an apparent airstrike on a humanitarian convoy traveling to Aleppo on Monday night, Reuters reported.

The attack killed 20 civilians and at least one aid worker, and destroyed a hospital and warehouse in addition to 18 of the 31 aid trucks. The U.N. aid chief, Stephen O’Brien, said the attack would amount to a war crime if it had deliberately targeted humanitarian aid.

Jans Laerke, humanitarian aid spokesman for the U.N., said it remained “committed to stay and deliver to everybody in need in Syria.” The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its staff would re-evaluate security following the attack, adding that any further activity would be put on hold.

The Syrian government had previously granted permission to the U.N. to deliver aid throughout the country. Both the U.S. and Russia had been informed about Monday’s convoy.

U.S. officials said Russian warplanes were flying above the convoy when it was attacked, according to Reuters. However, Russia’s defense ministry claimed neither Russia nor Syria was responsible for the airstrike, according to Al Jazeera.

Igor Konashenkov, the Russian defense ministry spokesman, said a fire shown in video recordings of the event “began in a strange way simultaneously with militants carrying out a massive offensive in Aleppo,” seemingly pointing to rebel factions being behind the attack. Moscow’s statement contradicted reports from a rescue worker who said more than 20 missiles hit the area over several hours.

On Tuesday, battles between rebel forces and the Syrian military were reported outside the besieged city of Aleppo.

A separate convoy with supplies for more than 80,000 people successfully reached Talbiseh in Homs on Monday, the first aid shipment the town has received since July.

Airstrikes Kill Four Medical Staff in Aleppo

An aerial attack killed at least four staff members working in a medical facility in rural Aleppo on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the total death toll from the attack in the Khan Touman area at 13, including nine fighters, some of whom were believed to be with the former al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), the French agency supporting the medical facility, said the airstrikes destroyed triage points in opposition-held areas outside Aleppo.

Opposition Questions Cease-Fire Integrity

Riad Hijab, the chief Syrian opposition coordinator and former prime minister under President Bashar al-Assad, on Tuesday questioned the integrity of the week-old cease-fire in Syria, according to Reuters.

Hijab’s remarks came less than a day after the aid convoy was attacked. He cited the incident as an example of the failure of the cease-fire to include any mechanisms to assign blame for violations. He said he was disappointed by the approach of the U.S., which backs the opposition forces in the war.

Bassma Kodmani, another senior opposition member, also criticized the cease-fire, which was jeopardized by several violations over the weekend and on Monday. Kodmati said that the U.S. is “betting entirely on Russian good faith.”

Hijab further suggested that Russia, whose strategy he called “purely military,” was using the cease-fire to regroup and gain an advantage during a pause in open hostilities.

U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov met briefly in New York on Tuesday and declared that the two sides would continue to work on the cease-fire, the Guardian reported.

Recommended Reads:

• Foreign Affairs: What Syrians Want
• The New York Times: Jimmy Carter: A First Step for Syria? Stop the Killing
• Carnegie: No More ‘Hama Rules’
• Bloomberg: Putin May Not Really Want a Syria Deal
• The Guardian: Behind the Headlines: Daily Life for Red Crescent Workers in Syria