ALEPPO, Syria -- A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by a deadly air strike hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.

The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late Monday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike while UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said initial reports indicated "many people" were killed or seriously wounded.

"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.

The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.

The UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian mission had sought to take advantage of the ceasefire, which collapsed on Monday night as shells and bombs rained down on Aleppo city and the surrounding province.

The Observatory said a total of 36 people had died in the violence across the battleground region. An AFP correspondent inside Aleppo city reported almost non-stop bombardment and constant sirens.

Syria's military announced the end to the truce earlier Monday, accusing rebels of more than 300 violations and failing to "commit to a single element" of the US-Russia deal.

The ceasefire, which came into force on September 12, saw an initial drop in fighting but violence began to escalate late last week and the deal came under severe strain over the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned that the truce could be the "last chance" to save the country.

The attack on the convoy is likely to provoke anger at the UN General Assembly in New York, with the delivery of aid to desperate Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas stressed as a key condition of the deal by Washington.

The US, Russia and other key players are set to gather there on Tuesday for talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict that has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions.</s>Aleppo — A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by a deadly air strike hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.

The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late on Monday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike while UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said initial reports indicated “many people” were killed or seriously wounded.

“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.

The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.

The UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian mission had sought to take advantage of the ceasefire, which collapsed on Monday night as shells and bombs rained down on Aleppo city and the surrounding province.

The Observatory said a total of 36 people had died in the violence across the battleground region. An AFP correspondent inside Aleppo city reported almost non-stop bombardment and constant sirens.

Syria’s military announced the end to the truce earlier on Monday, accusing rebels of more than 300 violations and failing to “commit to a single element” of the US-Russia deal.

The ceasefire, which came into force on September 12, saw an initial drop in fighting but violence began to escalate late last week and the deal came under severe strain over the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned that the truce could be the “last chance” to save the country.

The attack on the convoy is likely to provoke anger at the UN General Assembly in New York, with the delivery of aid to desperate Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas stressed as a key condition of the deal by Washington.

The US, Russia and other key players were set to gather there yesterday for talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict that has killed more than 300 000 people and displaced millions.

“Our outrage at this attack is enormous,” the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters.

“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians.”

The US said it was outraged at the attack and stressed that the destination of the convoy was known to the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia.

Aid distribution to Syrian civilians caught up in the conflict had already faced severe difficulties.

The UN held back deliveries destined for Aleppo city because it was unable to obtain security guarantees.

Jan Egeland, head of the UN humanitarian task force for Syria, said the convoy was bombed despite aid agencies coordinating their movements with all sides on the ground.

A Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse was also hit, a UN spokesperson said.

Inside Aleppo, residents in rebel-held areas hunkered down after the end of the ceasefire which had brought only temporary relief to the population of up to 275 000 people trapped there.

Sirens wailed as ambulances zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Observatory said that military planes had carried out more than 40 strikes since the Syrian army announced the end of the truce.

Chief US diplomat Kerry will try to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York before yesterday’s meeting of the International Syria Support Group but statements from Syrian and Russian military officials on the ground appeared to bury the deal.

“Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally,” said Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy.

The ceasefire deal had three key components: fighting between government and rebel forces across Syria would halt, although strikes on Islamic State and other jihadists could continue.

Humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians, particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.

And if the ceasefire held, the US was to have set up a joint military cell with Russia to target jihadists.

It came under massive strain on Saturday when a US-led coalition strike hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces are battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday blasted the air strikes, which he said showed world powers supported “terrorist organisations” like IS.

His adviser Buthaina Shaaban went further, telling AFP that Damascus believed the raid which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers had been intentional.

The bloodiest day for civilians was on Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started. — AFP.</s>Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed aid trucks near Aleppo late on Monday after a week-long ceasefire ended, killing 12 people, including Red Crescent workers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and opposition activists said.

 The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment about the attack in a rebel-held area west of Aleppo near the town of Urm al-Kubra.

 An opposition activist who witnessed the attack said at least eight vehicles were destroyed together with the Red Crescent’s regional aid depot where they were parked.

 ‘As I speak to you, the brothers were trying to put out the flames, and we were subjected to four more raids … in exactly the same place,’ said the activist, giving his name as Abu Shahoud. ‘They are still in the air,’ he told Reuters from the area, sending footage that showed several trailers ablaze.

 A local resident told Reuters by phone that the trucks had been hit by around five missiles while parked at the centre belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent, and that the head of the centre and several others were badly injured.

 The United Nations had said earlier on Monday that aid including wheat flour and health supplies for 78,000 people was to be delivered to Urm al-Kubra.

 The United Nations and Red Cross confirmed the convoy had been hit. The British-based Observatory said the trucks had made a routine aid delivery organised by an international organisation to an area west of Aleppo city.

 ‘We are deeply shocked that humanitarian workers and missions have yet again suffered from the brutality of this conflict,’ the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

 The Observatory reported at least 40 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended, and said some 32 people had been killed in all.</s>ALEPPO, Syria: A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by a deadly air strike hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long cease-fire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.

The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late Monday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum Al-Kubra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike while UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said initial reports indicated “many people” were killed or seriously wounded.

“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.

The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.

The UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian mission had sought to take advantage of the cease-fire, which collapsed on Monday night as shells and bombs rained down on Aleppo city and the surrounding province.

The Observatory said a total of 36 people had died in the violence across the battleground region. An AFP correspondent inside Aleppo city reported almost non-stop bombardment and constant sirens.

Syria’s military announced the end to the truce earlier Monday, accusing rebels of more than 300 violations and failing to “commit to a single element” of the US-Russia deal.

The cease-fire, which came into force on September 12, saw an initial drop in fighting but violence began to escalate late last week and the deal came under severe strain over the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned that the truce could be the “last chance” to save the country.



'Enormous outrage'

The attack on the convoy is likely to provoke anger at the UN General Assembly in New York, with the delivery of aid to desperate Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas stressed as a key condition of the deal by Washington.

The US, Russia and other key players are set to gather there on Tuesday for talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict that has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions.

“Our outrage at this attack is enormous,” the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters.

“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians.”

The United States said it was outraged at the attack and stressed that the destination of the convoy was known to the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia.

Aid distribution to Syrian civilians caught up in the conflict had already faced severe difficulties.

The UN held back deliveries destined for Aleppo city because it was unable to obtain security guarantees.

Jan Egeland, head of the UN humanitarian task force for Syria, said the convoy was bombed despite aid agencies coordinating their movements with all sides on the ground.

A Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse was also hit, a UN spokesman said.



'Temporary relief'

Inside Aleppo, residents in rebel-held areas hunkered down after the end of the cease-fire which had brought only temporary relief to the population of up to 275,000 people trapped there.

Sirens wailed as ambulances zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Observatory said that military planes had carried out more than 40 strikes since the Syrian army announced the end of the truce.

Chief US diplomat Kerry will try to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York before Tuesday’s meeting of the International Syria Support Group but statements from Syrian and Russian military officials on the ground appeared to bury the deal.

“Considering that the conditions of the cease-fire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally,” said Russian Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy.

The cease-fire deal had three key components: fighting between government and rebel forces across Syria would halt, although strikes on Islamic State and other jihadists could continue.

Humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians, particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.

And if the cease-fire held, the US was to have set up a joint military cell with Russia to target jihadists.

It came under massive strain on Saturday when a US-led coalition strike hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces are battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday blasted the air strikes, which he said showed world powers supported “terrorist organizations” like IS.

His adviser Buthaina Shaaban went further, telling AFP that Damascus believed the raid which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers had been intentional.

The bloodiest day for civilians was Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started.</s>ALEPPO, Syria: A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by a deadly air strike hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long cease-fire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.

The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late Monday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum Al-Kubra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike while UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said initial reports indicated “many people” were killed or seriously wounded.

“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.

The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.

The UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian mission had sought to take advantage of the cease-fire, which collapsed on Monday night as shells and bombs rained down on Aleppo city and the surrounding province.

The Observatory said a total of 36 people had died in the violence across the battleground region. An AFP correspondent inside Aleppo city reported almost non-stop bombardment and constant sirens.

Syria’s military announced the end to the truce earlier Monday, accusing rebels of more than 300 violations and failing to “commit to a single element” of the US-Russia deal.

The cease-fire, which came into force on September 12, saw an initial drop in fighting but violence began to escalate late last week and the deal came under severe strain over the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned that the truce could be the “last chance” to save the country.



'Enormous outrage'

The attack on the convoy is likely to provoke anger at the UN General Assembly in New York, with the delivery of aid to desperate Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas stressed as a key condition of the deal by Washington.

The US, Russia and other key players are set to gather there on Tuesday for talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict that has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions.

“Our outrage at this attack is enormous,” the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters.

“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians.”

The United States said it was outraged at the attack and stressed that the destination of the convoy was known to the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia.

Aid distribution to Syrian civilians caught up in the conflict had already faced severe difficulties.

The UN held back deliveries destined for Aleppo city because it was unable to obtain security guarantees.

Jan Egeland, head of the UN humanitarian task force for Syria, said the convoy was bombed despite aid agencies coordinating their movements with all sides on the ground.

A Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse was also hit, a UN spokesman said.



'Temporary relief'

Inside Aleppo, residents in rebel-held areas hunkered down after the end of the cease-fire which had brought only temporary relief to the population of up to 275,000 people trapped there.

Sirens wailed as ambulances zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Observatory said that military planes had carried out more than 40 strikes since the Syrian army announced the end of the truce.

Chief US diplomat Kerry will try to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York before Tuesday’s meeting of the International Syria Support Group but statements from Syrian and Russian military officials on the ground appeared to bury the deal.

“Considering that the conditions of the cease-fire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally,” said Russian Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy.

The cease-fire deal had three key components: fighting between government and rebel forces across Syria would halt, although strikes on Islamic State and other jihadists could continue.

Humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians, particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo.

And if the cease-fire held, the US was to have set up a joint military cell with Russia to target jihadists.

It came under massive strain on Saturday when a US-led coalition strike hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces are battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday blasted the air strikes, which he said showed world powers supported “terrorist organizations” like IS.

His adviser Buthaina Shaaban went further, telling AFP that Damascus believed the raid which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers had been intentional.

The bloodiest day for civilians was Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started.</s>Image copyright EPA/SYRIAN RED CRESENT Image caption The 31 trucks were pictured earlier preparing to set off to deliver aid

A convoy of aid trucks has been hit by an air strike near the Syrian city of Aleppo, reports say, hours after the military declared the current cessation of violence was over.

One unconfirmed report said 12 people were killed in the attack near the town of Urum al-Kubra.

A UN spokesman said at least 18 of 31 trucks had been hit but could not confirm it was by an air strike.

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said it was an "outrage".

"The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians," he said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The Syrian Red Crescent said the convoy had been making a routine delivery from Aleppo to rural rebel-held areas. Images posted online showed lorries and trailers engulfed by flames.

Activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 12 people - aid workers and truck drivers - had died in a strike by Syrian or Russian warplanes. The Syrian government has not commented.

A witness told Reuters by phone that about five missile strikes had hit the lorries, which were parked at a centre belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent in Urum al-Kubra.

Mr de Mistura's humanitarian adviser, Jan Egeland, said the convoy had been "bombarded" while offloading at warehouses. About 78,000 people are in need of aid around Urum al-Kubra.

Ingy Sedky, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, described the situation at the scene as "very chaotic".

"We are deeply shocked that humanitarian workers and missions have yet again suffered from the brutality of this conflict," she told AFP.

Aid deliveries to besieged areas were a key part of the cessation of hostilities deal brokered by the US and Russia seven days ago.

But the Syrian military and rebels have accused each other of violating the truce.

Earlier, air strikes were reported to have resumed on Aleppo and other cities after the Syrian military declared the seven-day "regime of calm" at an end.

It said rebel groups, which it referred to as "terrorists", had failed to commit to any provisions of the truce deal.

Image copyright EPA/SYRIAN RED CRESENT Image caption Red Crescent workers were reported to be among the casualties

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Large parts of Aleppo have been destroyed by years of fighting

The US, which brokered the cessation of violence along with Russia, said it was working to extend the agreement, but called on Russia to clarify the Syrian statement.

"Our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position," state department spokesman John Kirby said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry criticised the Syrian declaration, saying: "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this."

He had earlier described the truce as "holding but fragile".

The US and Russia are to hold further talks on the Syrian situation in New York on Tuesday, the state department added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes had hit rebel-held areas in Aleppo and villages to the west.

A correspondent with the AFP news agency in the city said artillery shelling and air strikes hit Sukkari and Amiriyah, two eastern districts.

Government-backed air strikes were also reported in the city of Homs and in the cities of Hama and Idlib.

'Pained and disappointed'

The cessation agreement included deliveries of humanitarian aid for the worst hit areas, but by Monday most shipments had yet to go in.

The stalled convoys include 20 lorries due to supply rebel-held eastern Aleppo where about 275,000 civilians are trapped without access to food or medical supplies.

UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said he was "pained and disappointed" that the convoy had yet to cross into Syria from Turkey.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Most of the humanitarian aid agree under the deal has yet to be delivered

Some aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said.

The truce was dealt a blow on Saturday when warplanes from the US-led coalition against so-called Islamic State (IS) bombed Syrian troops in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, apparently unintentionally.

Officials said the strikes killed more than 60 soldiers. President Bashar al-Assad called them the "latest example of flagrant American aggression against Syrian army positions in the interests of the terrorist organisation Daesh [IS]".

On Monday, the UK confirmed that British aircraft - believed to be unmanned, remotely-piloted Reaper drones - had been involved in the strike, along with jets from Australia and Denmark.</s>BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed aid trucks near Aleppo late on Monday after a fragile week-long ceasefire ended, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It said the trucks had made a routine aid delivery organised by an international organisation to an area west of Aleppo city, and were hit near the town of Urm al-Kubra.

The United Nations and Red Cross said they were investigating the reports, and did not say whether the aid convoy belonged to them.

The Observatory reported 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Kevin Liffey)</s>BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed aid trucks near Aleppo late on Monday after a fragile week-long ceasefire ended, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It said the trucks had made a routine aid delivery organised by an international organisation to an area west of Aleppo city, and had been hit near the town of Urm al-Kubra.

The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment.

A local resident told Reuters by phone that the trucks had been hit by around five missiles while parked in a centre belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent in Urm al-Kubra. The head of the centre and several others were badly injured, they said.

The aid convoys had been arriving regularly from Turkey and their contents were mostly supplied by various regional and international charities.

The United Nations had said earlier on Monday that aid including wheat flour and health supplies for 78,000 people was to be delivered to Urm al-Kubra.

The United Nations and Red Cross said they were investigating the reports.

The Observatory reported 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended. (Reporting by John Davison and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Kevin Liffey)</s>It said the trucks had made a routine aid delivery organized by an international organization to an area west of Aleppo city, and were hit near the town of Urm al-Kubra.

The United Nations and Red Cross said they were investigating the reports, and did not say whether the aid convoy belonged to them.

The Observatory reported 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended.</s>Twelve people involved in the aid delivery were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organzation that monitors the conflict in Syria.

At least 32 people in total were killed in strikes that hit Aleppo and its western suburbs, SOHR said.

The UN is working with the Syrian humanitarian organization to deliver aid to 78,000 people in the town of Urum al-Kubra, just west of Aleppo.

The UN estimates that 18 of 31 trucks in the aid convoy were hit.

The violence comes just hours after Syrian authorities declared that a fragile ceasefire in the war-torn country is over. #BREAKING:Today, @SYRedCrescent #Aleppo delivering aid convoy of 31 trucks will reach the western rural side of Aleppo pic.twitter.com/fqGiCUyc3t — SARC | Aleppo (@SARC_Aleppo) September 19, 2016 "We need to see what the Russians say, but the important thing is the Russians need to control Assad who is evidently indiscriminately bombing, including on humanitarian convoys, so let's wait-and-see and collect the facts," US Secretary of State John Kerry said. "We don't have all the facts at this point." Although the ceasefire appeared to initially reduce the amount of violence in hard-hit areas like Aleppo, the delivery of humanitarian aid was delayed for security reasons. The International Committee of the Red Cross announced Monday that its team had reached the city of Homs in western Syria.
Hours after the Syrian military declares the end of the ceasefire, an airstrike hits a convoy of United Nations OCHA aid trucks near the town of Urum al-Kubra, in the Aleppo Governorate, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting that at least 12 people have been killed.