Syrian regime hits humanitarian aid convoy

A boy rides a bicycle near a damaged aid truck after an airstrike on the rebel held Urm al-Kubra town, western Aleppo city, Syria September 20, 2016. [REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah]

A UN convoy that was delivering humanitarian aid to nearly 78,000 victims besieged in Aleppo, Syria has been hit, the UN confirmed Monday.

There are conflicting reports about casualties as the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed 12 people, including air workers and truck drivers, were killed in the attack.

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

One Syrian activist speaking to Anadolu Agency said at least two people were killed in the attack. Ahmed Nabhan told Anadolu Agency the regime carried out the strike with helicopters that dropped two barrel bombs on 36 trucks belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent.

Nabhan said the two truck drivers were killed and 20 trucks were burned after the attack on the convoy that was making a routine delivery from Aleppo to rural rebel-held areas.

The convoy was traveling to Orem when it was targeted, spokesperson Farhan Haq told agencies.

“We don’t know yet who is responsible,” Haq said.

The regime has not made any statement.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Monday unilaterally announced the end of a cease-fire – sponsored by the US and Russia – that went into effect on 12 September.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to UN figures.

The Syrian Centre for Policy Research, an NGO that until recently was based in Damascus, has put the total death toll from conflict at more than 470,000.