US suspends Syria talks with Russia over bombing of rebel-held areas

The US has said it has suspended talks with Russia on a Syrian truce, as a Russian-Syrian aerial bombing campaign intensified its focus on destroying hospitals in rebel-held areas.

“The United States is suspending its participation in bilateral channels with Russia that were established to sustain the cessation of hostilities. This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” the state department spokesman, John Kirby, said, referring to the truce agreed by the US and Russia on 9 September which collapsed in less than a week, after Bashar al-Assad’s government forces declared they were no longer bound by it.

Kirby said Russia had “failed to live up to its own commitments” and failed to rein in its ally, Assad’s regime in Damascus.

“Rather, Russia and the Syrian regime have chosen to pursue a military course, inconsistent with the cessation of hostilities, as demonstrated by their intensified attacks against civilian areas, targeting of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in need,” Kirby added, and singled out a 19 September attack on a UN aid convoy to a rebel-held area in the Aleppo countryside, in which British and US officials have alleged Russian aircraft took part.

Washington also pulled out military personnel who had been dispatched to work with their Russian counterparts to mount joint bombing operations against Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) terrorist groups.

The statement comes after a warning last week that the US it would halt the talks unless Moscow stops bombing the city of Aleppo.

A few hours prior to the suspension, Moscow declared military contacts with the US had also stopped and Vladimir Putin suspended a six-year agreement with Washington on the reduction of military stocks of plutonium.

Two waves of airstrikes struck eastern Aleppo’s M10 hospital, one of the last three functioning major hospitals in the east of the city. The first strike hit the hospital on Monday morning, killing seven people and leaving a large hole near the entrance. According to the Guardian, it was still reported to be functioning until a second strike in the early evening. The hospital had already been struck from the air on Saturday and workmen were repairing the damage at the time of the first strike on Monday.

On Sunday, Syrian or Russian aircraft targeted an underground hospital in an opposition area north of Hama. Reports from the city said that no one had been killed in the attack on the hospital which is tunnelled into the side of a mountain, but powerful bombs, possibly bunker-busters designed to destroy buried or hardened targets, wrecked the emergency ward, brought down interior ceilings, crumbled cement walls and destroyed generators.

However, Kirby said that military coordination with Russia would continue, “to ensure the safety of our respective military personnel and enable the fight against Daesh.”