- Ban Ki-moon also condemns ‘apparently deliberate’ Syria aid convoy attack
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have condemned the Monday night’s horrific attack on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) warehouse and an aid convoy in Orem Al Kubra (Big Orem) in rural Aleppo, during which 20 civilians and one SARC staff member were killed.
The SARC staff and the 20 civilians were unloading trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid when the attack occurred with much of the aid destroyed. The attack deprives thousands of civilians of the much-needed food and medical assistance.
“We’re totally devastated by the deaths of so many people, including one of our colleagues, the director of our sub-branch, Omar Barakat. He was a committed and brave member of our family of staff and volunteers, working relentlessly to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people. It is totally unacceptable that our staff and volunteers continue to pay such a high price because of the ongoing fighting,” said the SARC President, Dr Abdulrahman Attar.
“From what we know of Monday’s attack, there has been a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which is totally unacceptable. Failing to respect and protect humanitarian workers and structures might have serious repercussions on ongoing humanitarian operations in the country, hence depriving millions of people from aid essential to their survival”, said Peter Maurer, the ICRC President.
“Today, the Red Cross and Red Crescent is in mourning. In solidarity with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, we are calling on the international community to ensure the protection of humanitarian aid workers and volunteers. We are not part of this conflict,” said Tadateru Konoé, the President of the IFRC.
Syria is one of the most dangerous conflicts for humanitarian workers in the world. During the past six years, 54 staff and volunteers of SARC have lost their lives whilst carrying out their duties.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement repeats its demand that all parties to the conflict adhere to the rules of international humanitarian law, which includes protecting aid workers.
In the meantime, US defence officials now believe that Russian planes dropped the bombs that destroyed a UN aid convoy that killed at least 20 people, the Guardian has learned.
The claim of direct Russian involvement in the bombing, if confirmed, would have far-reaching consequences. Ban Ki-moon has used his farewell address to the UN general assembly to denounce it as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack”, describing the bombers at “cowards”, and UN officials have said it is a potential war crime.
The outgoing secretary general told world leaders in New York that the UN had been forced to suspend aid convoys in Syria because of Monday’s attack on Syrian Red Crescent trucks that were carrying UN food supplies to a rural area west of Aleppo city.
Victims of the attack included the local director of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Omar Barakat. Ban hailed the dead aid workers as heroes and said “those who bombed them were cowards” before calling for accountability for crimes committed in the war. “Just when you think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower,” he said.
Aid officials said the convoy was hit from the air while food and medicine was being unloaded at a warehouse in opposition-controlled Orem al-Kubra.
Reuters news agency quoted two US officials as saying two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 warplanes were in the sky above the aid convoy at the precise time it was struck, and citing intelligence that led them to conclude Russia was to blame.
The White House and Department of State said they could not confirm the allegations, while the Russian foreign ministry rejected them with “resentment and indignation”.
Previously US officials had said that they would hold Moscow responsible for the attack, even if it was carried out by Syrian aircraft, as Russia had taken responsibility for the regime’s compliance with the ceasefire as part of the 9 September agreement.
But Moscow has not conceded that the convoy was hit by an airstrike, claiming instead that the 18 lorries had “caught fire”. In a separate statement on Tuesday, the country’s defence ministry said that the aid convoy had been accompanied by a militants’ pickup truck armed with a heavy mortar gun, Russian news agencies reported.
The US officials said there was no doubt the convoy was destroyed in an airstrike and that western coalition forces had no role in it.
“There are only three parties that fly in Syria: the coalition, the Russians, and the Syrian regime. It was not the coalition. We don’t fly over Aleppo. We have no reason to. We strike only Isis, and Isis is not there. We would leave it to the Russians and the Syrian regime to explain their actions,” said Capt Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
In a meeting with John Kerry, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, admitted that the Russian military had been monitoring the convoy – apparent drone surveillance footage of its progress had been live-streamed on a defence ministry website. But he claimed the Russians had “lost track of it when it entered rebel territory”, according to diplomatic sources. Moscow had launched an investigation, Lavrov told the other foreign ministers.
Later on Tuesday, however, the Russian foreign ministry put out an angry denunciation of allegations against Moscow and Damascus.
“We are considering, with resentment and indignation, attempts by some foreign curators of rebel units and terrorists in Syria to put the blame for the incident on the Russian and Syrian air forces who allegedly bombarded a relief convoy,” the statement said, according to the Tass news agency.
Despite the outrage caused by the attack, and the continued bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the US and Russia have refused to declare the Syrian ceasefire dead.
Lavrov’s meeting with the US secretary of state was the first since the Syrian military declared itself no longer bound by the ceasefire the two politicians negotiated, and resumed its air campaign against eastern Aleppo and other rebel-held areas on Monday.
Lavrov and Kerry talked in a central New York hotel for about half an hour on Tuesday morning before walking, still in deep discussion, into a broader session with other foreign ministers from the security council, Europe and the Middle East who make up the International Syria Support Group (ISSG). Kerry emerged from the group’s meeting insisting: “The ceasefire is not dead.”
“We are going to continue to work. We are going to meet again Friday on some specific steps,” the secretary of state said.
Additional report from Guardian
