Boris Johnson: Syria conflict is a proxy war not a civil war

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the conflict in Syria is now a proxy war instead of a civil war and called on the sponsors of the Syrian regime to bring Assad back to the negotiating table. Speaking outside the UN Security Council meeting in New York, he said there were only two possible culprits for the deadly attack on the aid convoy on September 19th; Syria or Russia, but said he was still hopeful a ceasefire could be negotiated.

Boris Johnson has said that there was strong evidence that Russia carried out the air strike on the UN aid convoy that killed 20 people on 19 September.

As heavy air raids continued in Syria especially in and around Aleppo after the collapse of a week-long ceasefire, the UK Foreign Secretary spoke to reporters outside the UN Security Council meeting in New York.

Johnson said: Its too early to say anything about criminality and to make conclusive judgements about responsibility, but put it this way: when you look at what happened to the aid convoy, there are only two possible culprits â€“ only two forces capable of having carried out that strike, flying in that area.

They are the Syrians and the Russians, and we have our doubts about the Syrian capability to fly at night. So you are left with a pretty strong conclusion, he said, according to The Guardian.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State told the United Nations that the future of Syria was hanging by a thread and called for all planes in key parts of the war-torn country to be grounded.

John Kerry said that the attack on the aid convoy raised doubts over whether Russia and the Syrian government could live up to the terms of the ceasefire deal.

Criticising his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrovs account of the collapse of the truce, Kerry said flights should stop to de-escalate the situation and give a chance for humanitarian assistance to flow.

Listening to my colleague from Russia, I felt like I was in a parallel universe, Kerry said. The scale of the atrocities committed by the Syrian government, he said, meant we cant just do business as usual.

We cant just walk out of this room and say we go to back to ceasefire everyone knows wont work. Are we supposed to sit at a table and have happy talk with a government that does these things? Kerry said.

The Russian defence ministry has said that a US drone appeared to be above the convoy several minutes before it caught fire.

General Igor Konashenkov said: We are not jumping to unfounded conclusions. Only its owners know why the drone was in the area at the right time and what kind of tasks it was pursuing there.

A spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross told IBTimes UK that pending an investigation, the attack on the convoy could be a war crime.