UN ready to resume aid delivery in Syria

NEW YORK

The United Nations announced Wednesday its aid convoy is ready to move forward with deliveries inside Syria after it was suspended following a deadly attack two days ago.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for United Nations humanitarian office, said part of the convoy was expected to move Thursday, but not to Aleppo where nearly 300,000 residents are in need of humanitarian aid amid an ongoing siege.

Laerke did not specify the locations of the deliveries.

The U.S. blamed Russia for the attack on the convoy that reportedly killed an unspecified number of aid workers and drivers. It drew condemnation from the UN and the international community.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded an investigation into the attack, which prompted U.S. State Secretary John Kerry to say Lavrov was living in a "parallel universe".

After a high-level meeting on Syria during the UN General Assembly, U.K. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson told reporters Syrian and Russian military forces are the two possible actors responsible for the attack on the convoy.

Johnson said his government had doubts as to the Syrian army's ability in night-time flights, which according to him, left Russian involvement as the only explanation.

Meanwhile, Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, said Wednesday the Bashar al-Assad government was ready to resume peace talks with the opposition with no preconditions, and reach a political solution decided by Syrians.

The on and off Geneva process, which began in 2012, has been abortive in stopping the bloodletting in the war-torn country.