20 September 2016•Update: 20 September 2016
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
The U.S. said Monday it does not know if an increasingly threatened Syrian cease-fire, which may not even be in effect, can go back into force.
“We don’t know if it can be salvaged,” a senior administration official acknowledged during a conference call while speaking to reporters on condition that he not be named.
He was one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Syrian government earlier in the day unilaterally declared the truce was dead, citing violations by “terrorists”, Damascus’ preferred term for armed opposition groups.
A deadly attack on a UN aid convoy bound for besieged areas of Aleppo caused deaths, including among aid workers and drivers, according to media reports.
The two officials said that there were “strong indications” the attack was an airstrike and ruled out the possibility the U.S.-led coalition was responsible.
“That only leaves two possibilities for nations that are operating in the area,” the official said, pointing to Syria or Russia. “Russia is responsible for its side of the equation.”
“What happened today has dealt a serious blow to our efforts to bring peace to Syria, and it is up to the Russians to demonstrate seriousness of purpose, not just through words, but through actions that demonstrate this process remains viable,” he said.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will on Tuesday lead a meeting of the International Syria Support Group, which is comprised of parties with vested interests in the Syrian conflict.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011.
More than a quarter of a million people have since been killed and in excess of 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to UN figures.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, an NGO that was until recently based in Damascus, has put the total death toll from conflict at more than 470,000.
