New York - 20 September 2016 1. Wide of briefing 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Rhodes, White House Deputy National Security Adviser: “All of our information indicates clearly that this was an airstrike. That means there only could have been two entities responsible - either the Syrian regime or the Russian government. In any event, we hold the Russian government responsible for airstrikes in this space, given that their commitment under the cessation of hostilities was to certainly ground air operations in places where humanitarian assistance is flowing. So that’s the first point I make. Second, with respect to what comes next - clearly this represents an enormous humanitarian tragedy that should be condemned and I think you’ve seen condemnation from the international community here today. It presents an enormous challenge to the process that we’re seeking to implement through the agreement. Secretary Kerry was able to meet today with the international support group for Syria, that’s the group of countries that we generally co-ordinate with in terms of our approach to the situation in Syria. The uniform view around that table is that we need to continue to determine whether or not the cessation of hostilities can continue. The preference is to see if it can given that it offers right now the best opportunity to provide for an opening to reduce the violence and address humanitarian concerns. That doesn’t mean we’re not significantly concerned by the complete failure to demonstrate good faith on the Russian side. It just means that we’re going to continue to review the circumstances with our closest partners, speak very directly to Russia about whether or not it’s serious about pursuing the agreement, test whether or not we can make progress in the coming days. If we can, we believe that’s the preferable course of action. If we can’t we clearly will not be able to move forth with the terms of the agreement.”