Kerry urges Syria no-fly zones

Fighting has broken out on numerous fronts in Syria, as diplomats try desperately to shore up a ceasefire that appears to be in tatters.

 

Syrian rebels and pro-government forces have been battling each other near Aleppo and Hama, hours after Russia released drone footage which it said showed a militant weapon accompanying an aid convoy that was subsequently attacked.

 

Passage of the aid convoy, which US officials said was struck by Russian jets, was supposed to have been secured by a ceasefire that was agreed by the various factions fighting around Aleppo, reports BBC, Skynews.

 

The UN Security Council, including the US, Russia and the UK, is currently holding a high-level meeting on Syria in New York.

 

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the delegates the world was facing a "make or break moment" in Syria, as he urged world powers to use their influence allow Syrians "to negotiate a way out of the hell in which they are trapped".

 

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he wanted to see a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack on the aid convoy.

 

But, US Secretary of State John Kerry said listening to Mr Lavrov made him feel as if he was in a "parallel universe".

 

He said that the attack on the aid convoy raise "profound doubt" over whether Russia and Syria would live up to the deal made in Geneva, but he still believed there was a way forward "out of the carnage".

 

That, he said, would follow a ban on Syrian government forces flying over areas controlled by the opposition and all aircraft must be grounded while the situation is de-escalated.

 

As the truce seemed to be in pieces amid the war of words, there were several reports of fighting in Syria itself.

 

They included: Nine rebels and four medical staff were reportedly killed by an airstrike in the insurgent-held town of Khan Touman south of Aleppo.