The United States believes two Russian aircraft attacked an aid convoy near Aleppo in a strike that shattered a one-week truce, US officials said on Tuesday.

Despite the military blame game over Monday’s attack, diplomats struggled to save the US-Russian ceasefire agreement that took effect on September 12th.

The incident, in which 18 trucks from a 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed, looked likely to deal a death blow to diplomatic efforts to halt a civil war now in its sixth year.

Two Russian Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes were in the skies above the aid convoy at the exact time it was struck late on Monday, two US officials told Reuters, citing US intelligence that led them to conclude Russia was to blame.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman denied the assertion, telling reporters at the United Nations the US administration “has no facts” to support the claim, adding: “We have nothing to do with this situation.”

Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security adviser, said the White House held Russia responsible for what he called an “enormous humanitarian tragedy” but he did not address whether the attack was carried out by Russian aircraft.

Earlier Russia, which denied its aircraft or those of its Syrian government allies were involved, had said it believed the convoy was not struck from the air at all but had caught fire because of some incident on the ground.

The Syrian Red Crescent said the head of one of its local offices and “around 20 civilians” had been killed, although other death tolls differed. The attack prompted the United Nations to suspend all aid shipments into Syria.

Senior officials from 23 nations emerged from a one-hour meeting on Syria at a New York luxury hotel with little more than an agreement to meet again, on Friday, about how to end a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and driven millions from their homes.

They also differed on the chances of renewing the ceasefire.

“The ceasefire is not dead,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said after the meeting, which he hosted with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.</s>This image provided by the Syrian anti-government group Aleppo 24 news, shows a vest of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent hanging on a damaged vehicle, in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. A U.N. humanitarian aid convoy in Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday as the Syrian military declared that a U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed, and U.N. officials reported many dead and seriously wounded. Aleppo 24 news via AP

BEIRUT — The U.N. humanitarian aid agency suspended all convoys in Syria on Tuesday following deadly airstrikes on aid trucks the previous night that activists said killed at least 12 people, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.

The attack plunged Syria's U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire further into doubt. The Syrian military, just hours earlier, had declared the week-long truce had failed. The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russia — after blaming rebels for the violations — suggested it could still be salvaged.

In Geneva, spokesman Jens Laerke of OCHA said further aid delivery would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria in the aftermath of the airstrike. Laerke called it "a very, very dark day... for humanitarians across the world."

The U.N. aid coordinator said the Syria government had granted needed authorizations in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed inside Syria. Humanitarian U.N. aid deliveries had stalled in recent weeks amid continued fighting, and the truce had not paved the way for expanded convoys as initially expected.

It was not clear who was behind the attack late on Monday, which sent a red fireball into the sky in the dead of night over a rural area in Aleppo province. Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the Islamic State group.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the civil war, and Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby both said the attack killed 12 people.

Among the victims was Omar Barakat who headed the Red Crescent in the town where the attack occurred, they said. The Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure.

The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province. The White Helmets first responder group posted images of a number of vehicles on fire and a video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrive on the scene.

U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the city of Aleppo. Initial estimates indicate that about 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area.

When asked who was behind the airstrikes, Abdurrahman said Syrian President Bashar Assad's "regime does not have the capabilities to carry out such airstrikes within two hours."

He said the airstrikes on Aleppo province, including the ones that hit the convoy, were part of some 40 air raids that lasted about two hours — starting at about 7:30 p.m. Monday — and that "it was mostly Russian warplanes who carried out the air raid."

Al-Halaby said that rebels in Aleppo province also claimed Russian aircraft were behind the attack.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group in Syria, said Russia's air forces and government warplanes dropped 25 bombs damaging some 20 trucks and destroying the Red Crescent warehouse in Uram al-Kubra.

Abdurrahman said the convoy of about 30 trucks had crossed earlier from a government-controlled area and were hit from the air hours after they reached the Red Crescent warehouse. He said that some of the trucks were already emptied when the attack occurred and that in all, 20 trucks were destroyed or damaged.

A paramedic, speaking in a video released by Aleppo 24 News, a media collective, blamed Russian and government warplanes as well as Syrian army helicopter gunships that he said dropped barrel bombs.

Piles of white bags filled with flour were seen near one of the trucks.

Photos posted by Aleppo 24 News showed what appears to be an SUV riddled with shrapnel, its windshield blown out. Another one shows damaged trucks filled with bags parked in front what appeared to be a building. Others show three damaged trucks parked on the road.

Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the U.N. envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was "bombarded."

Egeland added, "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses."

U. N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O'Brien called on "all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by international humanitarian law."

A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available.

Also Tuesday, the Observatory said government forces launched an offensive in the Handarat area, just north of the city of Aleppo, in what appears to be an attempt to tighten the siege on rebel-held parts of Syria's largest city.

Apart from the 12 killed in the convoy attack, 22 civilians died in attacks Monday across the province, according to the Observatory and Aleppo 24 News.

Keaten reported from Geneva. Associated Press writer Philip Issa in Beirut contributed to this report.</s>The Latest on developments in Syria, where a cease-fire is faltering further after airstrikes hit an aid convoy overnight (all times local):

The U.N. humanitarian aid agency says it has temporarily suspended all convoys in Syria following a deadly airstrike on aid trucks the previous night.

Spokesman Jens Laerke of OCHA says the temporary suspension of the aid deliveries would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria.

Laerke said on Tuesday that the U.N. aid coordinator had received needed authorizations from the Syrian government in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed within Syria.

He said it's "a very, very dark day ... for humanitarians across the world."

The attack late on Monday came just hours after the Syrian military declared the week-long U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed. The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russia — after blaming rebels for the violations — suggested it could still be salvaged.

Syria's cease-fire has faltered further after an aid convoy was hit by airstrikes, with activists saying at least 12 people were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, which sent a red fireball into the sky in the dead of night over a rural area in Aleppo province. Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the Islamic State group.

U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.

Initial estimates indicate that about 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks the civil war, said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.</s>MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia's military was checking media reports of air strikes on a humanitarian aid convoy near Aleppo in Syria the previous day and was expected to say something about the matter later in the day.

Syrian or Russian aircraft struck an aid convoy near Aleppo on Monday and killed 12 people, according to a war monitor.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Monday that Washington was "outraged" and would be raising the matter directly with Russia at a time when a shaky ceasefire in Syria has all but unravelled.

"The situation in Syria is a source of great concern," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

"Unfortunately, we can state ... that our American colleagues have failed to separate terrorists from the so-called moderate opposition."

Peskov said there was little hope for a renewal of the ceasefire in Syria. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov/Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)</s>Aid convoys for four Syrian towns will be postponed as staff reassess security after a deadly attack on relief trucks and intensified violence, a senior official from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday.

Syrian or Russian aircraft struck an aid convoy near Aleppo, killing 12 people on Monday, a war monitor reported, as the Syrian military declared a one-week truce over.

“This is very worrying. We see a resumption of violence, an intensification of fighting in many locations,” Robert Mardini, ICRC director for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters in Geneva.

“We had something planned in the four towns, but for now it is put on hold to reassess the security conditions,” he said, referring to rebel-besieged Foua and Kefraya in Idlib and government-blockaded Madaya and Zabadani near the Lebanese border.

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

SARC’s director in Urem al-Kubra, Omar Barakat, was among the dead, Mardini said. “The team is in shock.”

“Omar was badly injured and rescue team could not reach him for two hours. When he was evacuated he could not survive his wounds,” he said.

A separate SARC/ICRC convoy to Talbiseh in Homs province made its first delivery since July on Monday, carrying supplies for more than 80,000 people.

The team stayed there overnight due to intensified fighting, Mardini said.

“Inshallah, they will be on their way back to Homs this morning,” he added.

“It is difficult to read the environment in coming hours because you have a mixture of intensification of fighting and politicization of humanitarian aid … It is high time to de-link humanitarian work from politics,” Mardini said.</s>The US has blamed Russia for an overnight attack on an aid convoy that killed 20 civilians, as the United Nations announced it was suspending overland deliveries in Syria, jeopardising food and medical security for millions of besieged and hard-to-reach civilians.

Confusion continued about who struck the convoy, but the White House insisted it was either Russia or Syria.

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said either way the US held Russia responsible because it was Russia's job under the week-old ceasefire to prevent Syria's air force from striking in areas where humanitarian aid was being transported.

"All of our information indicates clearly that this was an airstrike," he said, rejecting the claim by Russia's Defence Ministry that a cargo fire caused the damage. Both Russia and Syria have denied carrying out the bombing.

Within one minute of the strike, the US tracked a Russian-made Su-24 directly over the region of the attack, officials said. Even that revelation failed to definitively implicate Russia because both the Russian and Syrian air forces fly the Su-24, although the US officials said there were strong indications that the jet was flown by the Russian military.

Witnesses described Monday's attack on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse and convoy in the rebel-held town of Uram al-Kubra in Aleppo province as prolonged and intense, saying the aerial bombardment continued as rescue workers rushed to pull the wounded from the flaming wreckage and rubble.

The convoy was part of a routine dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, which UN officials said was delivering assistance to 78,000 people in Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. It was carrying food, medicines, emergency health kits, IV fluids, and other essentials supplied by the UN and the World Health Organisation.

Paramedic and media activist Mohammad Rasoul, who was among the first to arrive at the scene, said more than 100 tons of food, medicine, and baby formula had gone up in flames. He said 18 of the convoy's 31 lorries were destroyed.

The attack "erased the convoy from the face of the earth", he said.

"I've never seen anything like this attack. If this had been a military position it wouldn't have been targeted with such intensity."

He said the attack began around 20 minutes after sunset on Monday and continued for two hours.

Pointing to the fact that Syria's rebels do not possess an air force, the White House said process of elimination indicated that either Syria's military or Russia's launched the attack.

Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over the province, while the U.S.-led coalition targets the Islamic State group in other parts of the country.

At the same time the attack took place on Uram al-Kubra, presumed Syrian or Russian jets launched a wave of attacks in and around the nearby city of Aleppo, minutes after Syria's military announced a week-long ceasefire had expired.

A cargo fire would not explain the footage filmed by rescuers of torn flesh being picked from the wreckage, or the witness accounts of a sustained, two-hour barrage of missiles, rockets, and barrel bombs - crude, unguided weapons that the Syrian government drops from helicopters.

Hussein Badawi, the head of the town's Syrian Civil Defence search and rescue group - also known as the White Helmets - said that on the night of the attack he heard the sounds of overhead ballistic missiles, helicopters and fighter jets. He and other witnesses reported seeing a reconnaissance aircraft observing the convoy before the attack.

"There were reconnaissance flights before the air strikes," said Mr Badawi. "They filmed and combed the area, and they knew there was a Red Crescent (facility). The target was the Red Crescent, central and direct."

Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed that a drone had followed the convoy from a warehouse in the government side of Aleppo to its destination in Uram al-Kubra.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said 20 civilians were killed in the attack, many of them killed as they were unloading the trucks. Syrian activists and paramedics had said earlier that the air strikes killed 12.

Witnesses said some of the remains were charred beyond recognition.

Among those killed was Omar Barakat, 38, the local director for the Red Crescent and a father of nine. His brother, Ali Barakat, who was also present at the attack, said it took him three hours to reach Omar, who was trapped in his vehicle.

"I stayed with my face on the floor for about an hour because of the intensity of the strikes," said Mr Barakat. Omar died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called it a "sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack" in his address to world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

"Just when we think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower," he said, describing the bombers as "cowards" and those delivering aid as "heroes".

The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA announced earlier in the day it had suspended relief convoys in Syria pending a review of the security situation. OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke called it "a very, very dark day for humanitarians across the world".</s>The Latest on developments in Syria, where a cease-fire is faltering further after airstrikes hit an aid convoy overnight (all times local):

The U.N. humanitarian aid agency says it has temporarily suspended all convoys in Syria following a deadly airstrike on aid trucks the previous night.

Spokesman Jens Laerke of OCHA says the temporary suspension of the aid deliveries would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria.

Laerke said on Tuesday that the U.N. aid coordinator had received needed authorizations from the Syrian government in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed within Syria.

He said it's "a very, very dark day ... for humanitarians across the world."

The attack late on Monday came just hours after the Syrian military declared the week-long U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed. The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russia — after blaming rebels for the violations — suggested it could still be salvaged.

Syria's cease-fire has faltered further after an aid convoy was hit by airstrikes, with activists saying at least 12 people were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, which sent a red fireball into the sky in the dead of night over a rural area in Aleppo province. Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the Islamic State group.

U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.

Initial estimates indicate that about 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks the civil war, said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.</s>Syria aid convoy attack appears to be air strike -U.S.

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - An attack on a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies in the Aleppo area of Syria appeared to be an air strike but it was not carried out by coalition jets, U.S. Central Command spokesman Colonel John Thomas said on Tuesday.

"It was certainly not the coalition who struck from the air. It does look like an air strike," Thomas told reporters during a telephone briefing.

"The only other entities that fly in Syria are Russia and Syria," he said.

The incident could deal a powerful blow to the ceasefire, the latest attempt to halt a war in its sixth year.

The Syrian Red Crescent said the head of one of its local offices and "around 20 civilians" were killed in Monday's strike, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blamed on Russian or Syrian aircraft.

Russia, which is allied with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad's government, denied that either its air force or the Syrian armed forces was responsible. The Syrian army also denied that it was involved in the attack.

The United Nations suspended aid shipments into Syria on Tuesday.

Thomas said the ceasefire in Syria was in jeopardy because of increased violence.

"This is not the vision that I think was put in place more than seven days ago, to try to get humanitarian assistance flowing into the area and try to decrease the level of violence," Thomas said.

On Saturday, Russia said that U.S. jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers.

The strike triggered a war of words between Washington and Moscow and further strained the cessation of hostilities.

Thomas said a brigadier general would be appointed to investigate the incident. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Diane Craft)</s>The Latest on developments in Syria, where a cease-fire is faltering further after airstrikes hit an aid convoy overnight (all times local):

The U.N. humanitarian aid agency says it has temporarily suspended all convoys in Syria following a deadly airstrike on aid trucks the previous night.

Spokesman Jens Laerke of OCHA says the temporary suspension of the aid deliveries would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria.

Laerke said on Tuesday that the U.N. aid coordinator had received needed authorizations from the Syrian government in recent days to allow for aid convoys to proceed within Syria.

He said it's "a very, very dark day ... for humanitarians across the world."

The attack late on Monday came just hours after the Syrian military declared the week-long U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed. The United States said it was prepared to extend the truce deal and Russia — after blaming rebels for the violations — suggested it could still be salvaged.

Syria's cease-fire has faltered further after an aid convoy was hit by airstrikes, with activists saying at least 12 people were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, which sent a red fireball into the sky in the dead of night over a rural area in Aleppo province. Both Syrian and Russian aircraft operate over Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the Islamic State group.

U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.

Initial estimates indicate that about 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks the civil war, said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.</s>Washington (CNN) The United States has reached the preliminary conclusion that Russian warplanes bombed an aid convoy and warehouse belonging to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, two US officials told CNN.

"All the evidence we have points to that conclusion," one of the officials said.

The White House position is that Russia is responsible, whether it was Russian planes -- or the Syrian regime's -- that carried out Monday night's attack.

The aid convoy was hit in the area of Urum al-Kubra, west of Aleppo, prompting the United Nations to halt its aid operations in Syria.

It is not clear who was responsible for the strike, which the International Committee of the Red Cross said killed about 20 people as well as the director of the Red Crescent's Urum al-Kubra branch, Omar Barakat.

"All of our information indicates clearly that this was an airstrike. That means there only could have been two entities responsible," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Tuesday night, referring to Russia and Syria. He didn't specify which country's planes carried out the strike.

"We hold the Russian government responsible for airstrikes in this airspace given their commitment under the cessation of hostilities was to ground air operations where humanitarian assistance was flowing," Rhodes said, referring to the terms of a recent ceasefire brokered between the United States and Russia.

Russia denies it was responsible and says that terrorists carried out the attack.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday that analysis of video footage from drones of the strike show that militants were following the convoy, according to the Russian state news site Tass.

"It is clearly seen in the video that a terrorists' pickup truck with a towed large-caliber mortar is moving along with the convoy," he said.

Syria has also strongly its forces were behind the attack.

"Just when we think it cannot get any worse, the power of depravity sinks lower," Ban told world leaders convening Tuesday at the UN General Assembly annual meeting.

Eighteen of the convoy's 31 trucks were hit, the United Nations said. The convoy was due to deliver food and medical aid for some 78,000 people in eastern Aleppo, where an estimated 250,000 civilians are facing severe shortages as a result of a government siege.

Rebels, locked in a vicious civil war with the Syrian government, reportedly hold the area where the convoy was struck. Russia has been helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the fight, though it has said its efforts are focused on attacking terror groups such as ISIS that have flourished during the conflict.

The US military has been reviewing classified radar, signals and aerial surveillance intelligence.

Based on that intelligence and reports from the ground, it has concluded that only Russian warplanes were in a position to attack this location at the time, the official said.

For now, no intelligence indicates Syrian aircraft or helicopters were in the area, though that type of information could come to light later, the official said.

The official added that reports from the ground appear accurate about at least two waves of airstrikes -- a common Russian military practice. Trucks inside as well as outside the compound on the road were hit.

But the Obama administration has not yet fully decided how much information it wants to reveal, concerned that it will expose sensitive military intelligence capabilities to the Russians.

What about the the ceasefire?

Monday night's attack came just hours after Syrian authorities declared an end to the fragile ceasefire, which began September 12.

Soon afterward, Syrian warplanes resumed airstrikes in Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and deadly violence returned across parts of the country.

The events have left the hard-fought ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US in tatters, although US officials said they believe the ceasefire agreement is still in place.

Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said the US preference is to continue with the ceasefire effort, paving the way for more cooperation between the Russian and US militaries in Syria, but that Moscow's actions could prevent further coordination.

"We have not seen good faith. This was an outrageous action," Rhodes told CNN's Michelle Kosinski. "It raises serious questions about whether or not this agreement moves forward."

He added, "In conflicts like this I think we have an obligation to continue to pursue whether there are diplomatic openings. If we can't, we walk away."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said before the convoy was struck Monday that any decisions about the ceasefire would be made between Washington and Moscow.

"The Syrians didn't make the deal," he said, "the Russians made the agreement."
The Obama administration claims that Russia was responsible for the bombing of a United Nations aid convoy near Aleppo on September 19. Russia denies its involvement. In the aftermath of the attack, the United Nations suspends all aid convoys in Syria.