“The U.S.-led warplanes are besieging the convoy in the heart of the desert, and preventing any aid of the convoy which include sick and wounded people as well as elders,” Al Manar said. “If this situation continues, the imminent death will be the fate of these families, including pregnant women.”

The convoy stalled just as the Syrian Army was pressing an offensive to retake the city of Deir al-Zour, the provincial capital, which the Syrian government said fell on Wednesday, according to the official SANA news agency.

If confirmed, it would be the first time in three years that government forces had controlled the city, where 90,000 people have remained. On Thursday, SANA said government aid convoys had reached Deir al-Zour city, Reuters reported.

Perhaps coincidentally, the route that the ISIS convoy had tried to take, through the town of Sukhna, was also the route used by the Syrian Army to retake Deir al-Zour over the past week, according to official accounts.

The American military, along with its Iraqi allies, denounced the deal made by Hezbollah and declared that it would not let the convoy reach Deir al-Zour, but would not bomb it if that threatened the safety of family members on board.

“Coalition leaders have communicated a course of action to the Russians, providing the Syrian regime an opportunity to remove the women and children from this situation,” the coalition said in a statement dated Tuesday. “The Syrian regime is letting women and children suffer in the desert. This situation is completely on them,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the departing coalition commander.