The United Nations expressed outrage on Monday over the crime in Syria against an aid convoy, and warned that if the attack was deliberate, it would amount to a war crime.

At least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were struck in the attack that left 12 aid workers and drivers dead, according to early report.

The convoy from the UN and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) was en route to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra, in Aleppo province, to deliver humanitarian assistance to 78,000 people.

“Our outrage at this attack is enormous,” the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters.

“The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians.

“Let me be clear: if this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime,” UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said, called for an investigation.

The United Nations did not confirm the casualties cited by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

O’Brien said initial reports indicate that “many people” were killed or seriously injured, including SARC volunteers.

A SARC warehouse was also hit and a health clinic was reportedly damaged, O’Brien said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault strongly condemned the strike, saying it underscored “the urgency of a cessation of hostilities in Syria.”

Syria’s military earlier announced the end of a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia, as the militant groups committed more than 300 violations and failed to “commit to a single element” of the US-Russia deal.

Source: AFP