Syria ceasefire teetering on collapse

Two 20-truck UN aid convoys destined for eastern Aleppo with enough supplies to feed 185,000 people for a month had remained blocked since early last week on the Syrian border, a UN spokesman said Monday.

"I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care," said Stephen O'Brien, who heads the UN's humanitarian office, in a statement.

The convoy depends on the success of the US-Russia ceasefire deal that Moscow says was severely shaken by a US-led airstrike on Syrian government troops.

The agreement called for Syrian troops to withdraw from the Castello Road supply route into the city, which regime forces seized in early July, cutting off aid to Aleppo's rebel-held east. The UN says trucks won't roll until the US and Russia certify the supply route as safe for the convoy.

Moscow says the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from the road, but insurgent groups in Aleppo have said they have seen no such move and would not pull back from their own positions around the road until it did so. That leaves little trust on the ground and the danger that fighting could resume any moment.

US-led coalition says it's sorry

Meanwhile, coalition partners Australia and Denmark expressed remorse Monday for the weekend strike intended to hit the self-styled "Islamic State" in eastern Syria that may threaten to derail the agreement.

"We regret the loss of life and injury to any Syrian personnel affected," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in New York, where he was visiting for the annual UN General Assembly.

The seven-day ceasefire declared by the Syrian army expired at midnight Monday with no announcement of its extension. Rebel militants have said they hold little hope that the truce will hold or that the aid would be delivered.

jar/msh (Reuters, AFP)