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WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed airstrikes by Russia and the Syrian government on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo during a phone conversation on Thursday.
Obama and Merkel believed Russia and the Syrian government "bear special responsibility for ending the fighting in Syria and granting the UN humanitarian access to besieged and hard to reach areas in Syria," said a White House statement.
Heavy aerial bombardments hitting east Aleppo and indiscriminate shelling in western parts of the city are threatening the lives of civilians while further hampering the delivery of critical aid, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, said in Geneva on Thursday.
On Sept. 10, Russia and the United States announced a landmark agreement on a nationwide cease-fire in Syria, which both sides hoped would lead to their countries' military cooperation to end more than five years of bloodshed there.
However, crossfire resumed in the first hours after the week-long truce deal expired on Sept. 19, with both parties trading accusations of failures to implement the deal.
At a conference in Washington hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Atlantic Council on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States is "on the verge" of calling off talks with Russia over military cooperation in Syria after the failure of the ceasefire.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that Russia sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis with the United States.
The senior Russian official reiterated Moscow's stance, blaming Washington for failing to fulfill its obligations and commitments, which Moscow believes has caused the collapse of the Russia-U.S. brokered truce accord.
