After an airstrike hit a fleet of trucks carrying food to a rebel-held area near Syria's Aleppo city, the United Nations has suspended all aid convoys in the country.
"As an immediate security measure, other convoy movements in Syria have been suspended for the time being, pending further assessment of the security situation," the Guardian quoted the UN humanitarian aid spokesman Jens Laerke, as saying.
Laerke said that the UN had only recently received permission from the Syrian government to deliver aid to besieged areas of the country.
The strike on Monday on a convoy of Syrian Red Crescent trucks carrying UN-supplied food took place after a week-old ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US collapsed amid a surge of Syrian government bombing.
It was described as the violation of international law by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a flagrant.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that it appeared that the attack was carried out by either Syrian or Russian aircraft which destroyed 18 trucks laden with food intended for tens of thousands of people cut off by the war in a rural area west of Aleppo city.
According to initial reports, 12 people had died.
Reports suggest that Aleppo director for the Syrian Red Crescent, Omar Barakat, was among the dead.
However, regardless of who was responsible, the US blamed Moscow for the attack saying, it was responsible under the ceasefire agreement for reining in Bashar al-Assad's government forces.
"The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian federation and yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people," said the US state department spokesman John Kirby in a statement.
He added that the issue will be raised directly with Russia.
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