UN suspends aid to Syria after convoy attacked

The United Nations suspended aid deliveries to Syria on Tuesday, hours after a convoy carrying humanitarian aid to rebel-held parts of Aleppo was attacked killing at least 12 people, USA Today reported.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said deliveries would be held pending a review of the security situation in the war-torn country.

He said it was “a very, very dark day… for humanitarians across the world.” 

The suspension of aid came soon after the Syrian military said a week-long cease-fire deal brokered by Russia and the United States was over after violations on all sides, including a US-led coalition airstrike on Saturday that mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.

The UN said at least 18 of 31 trucks in a UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy that was transporting aid to 78,000 people were hit while traveling to Urm al Kubra in Aleppo on Monday.

It said a SARC warehouse was also hit and a SARC health clinic was reported to have been badly damaged. The nature of the attack wasn’t immediately clear.

Source: MENA