UN suspends all humanitarian convoys in Syria after attack

A vest of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent hanging on a damaged vehicle, in Aleppo, Syria on Tuesday. Pic/AP

Geneva: The UN said yesterday it had suspended all humanitarian aid convoys in Syria after a deadly air raid hit 18 of the 31 trucks delivering aid near Aleppo, killing 12 Red Crescent staff members. The attack took place hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.

As an "immediate security measure, other convoy movements in Syria have been suspended," said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency in Geneva.

This marks a "very, very dark day for humanitarians in Syria and indeed across the world," he said, stressing that it was "paramount that we are able to establish the facts through an independent investigation."

The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late yesterday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike.

Red Cross spokesman Benoit Carpentier told reporters that the director of the Syrian Red Crescent's sub-branch was killed, along with a number of civilians. Laerke said the convoy had been carrying food and non-food aid for some 78,000 people.