US is willing to extend Syria truce despite violations

The US, which brokered the cessation of violence along with Russian Federation, said it was working to extend the agreement, but called on Russian Federation to clarify the Syrian statement.

Russian and United States officials met in Geneva today and the International Syria Support Group - the countries backing the Syria peace process - were scheduled to meet tomorrow in NY to assess the ceasefire agreement.

The Observatory said the aid trucks had made a delivery organised by an global organisation to an area west of Aleppo.

In the wake of the Syrian announcement, Kerry expressed annoyance at Damascus' and Moscow's handling of the cease-fire.

Earlier, Kerry expressed hope that the cease-fire could still hold even after the Syrian military's announcement, and he took aim at Russian Federation for not doing enough to pressure Assad's government to comply.

Earlier, the Syrian military said its seven-day "regime of calm" had expired.

The fragile ceasefire agreed last week was put under extra strain when the airstrikes mistakenly killed around 60 Syrian soldiers on Saturday.

"It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this", he told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

"This regime of calm was supposed to be a real opportunity to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement", the army said in a statement.

Syria's armed forces on Monday announced an end to a week-long ceasefire in the war-torn country brokered by the United States and Russian Federation, blaming opposition groups battling to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad for its failure.

At least 18 of 31 trucks in a United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy - delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Urm al-Kubra - were hit west of Aleppo.

It accused rebel groups of carrying out more than 300 truce violations across the country and of failing to "commit to a single element" of the deal.

After months of negotiations, the United States and Russian Federation agreed on September 9 to call for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria. A planned delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo - one of the first steps in the deal - has been repeatedly postponed.

Although Kerry professed hope, USA officials said Monday conditions were still not right to set up the Joint Implementation Center.

The U.N. emergency relief coordinator says he is "pained and disappointed" convoys have not reached Aleppo where as many as 275,000 people are in need of food, water and medical aid.

In a statement released by the state SANA news agency, the Syrian military said that "terrorist groups did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement on a ceasefire".

The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12 and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the cease-fire "clinically dead". The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside the country, reported the casualty figures.

Meanwhile, Syrian state TV reported that government warplanes attacked positions of the Islamic State group in eastern Deir el-Zour province on Monday.

The truce excludes IS and al-Qaida-linked militants.

The activist-operated Aleppo Media Center says suspected government warplanes dropped bombs on a number of rebel-held neighborhoods.

Syria's Assad was bolstered by Russia's entry into the conflict a year ago.

The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend airstrikes by the USA -led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour.