The United States and Russian Federation have called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the fragile ceasefire in Syria.
Advertisement
US-led coalition jets have bombed Syrian government forces’ positions near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, “paving the way” for Islamic State militants, the Syrian Army General Command told the state television.
She said the United States was investigating the air strikes and “if we determine that we did indeed strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention and we of course regret the loss of life”.
Gen. Igor Konashenkov says he has been informed by Syrian authorities that at least 62 soldiers were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the attack in Deir al-Zour, according to The Associated Press.
Only if the current ceasefire – which began on Monday – holds for seven days, will the U.S. and Russian Federation begin co-ordinated action against the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, which was previously known as the al-Nusra Front, and IS.
The allegations come as Moscow and Washington are already at loggerheads over a five-day-old Syrian cease-fire, with each accusing the other of failing to fully implement it.
“Coalition forces believed they were striking a Da’esh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike”, Central Command said in statement.
The Syrian military called the bombing a “serious and blatant aggression” against Syrian forces, and said it was “conclusive evidence” that the U.S. and its allies support IS militants.
A U.S. military official speaking to the AFP news agency also appeared to confirm the attack, saying “we believe about a half-dozen vehicles, including what we think was a tank, were struck as well as personnel who were out in the open”.
CNN Turk footage showed white smoke rising from across the border in Syria as Turkish howitzers fired west of al-Rai, where the Syrian Observatory said Free Syrian Army rebel groups gained control of two villages.
In a statement, the White House said President Barack Obama emphasized to his National Security Council that “the United States will not proceed with the next steps in the arrangement with Russian Federation until we see seven continuous days of reduced violence and sustained humanitarian access”.
“We believe that we can not ask them (council members) to support documents which they haven’t seen”, said Mr Churkin, suggesting there was lack of unity in US President Barack Obama’s administration toward the agreement.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin then walked out of the acrimonious meeting before Power spoke to the council.
Both sides say the ceasefire is about ready to collapse.
The incident marks the first US -led attack on a government forces’ positions since the coalition started striking IS positions in Syria in 2014. But he held out hope that the USA will find a way to convince us that it’s serious about finding a political solution in Syria and fighting terrorism. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Moscow is demanding “full and detailed explanations about whether this was deliberate support of the Islamic State or another mistake”.
Mr Churkin said the air strike had put “a very big question mark” over the future of the USA and Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement in Syria.
The Syria cease-fire deal struck by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is created to pause the civil war so that the superpowers’ militaries can be jointly concentrated against the Islamic extremist groups operating within the chaos on the ground. Churkin, for his part, cast doubt on the American claim that the airstrike was accidental.
A senior Obama administration official said the United States has “relayed our regret” for the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces fighting the IS.
During the scheduled meeting, United States and Russian envoys were to present details of the joint agreement that calls for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria. The official also said the USA will continue to pursue compliance with the cessation of hostilities as it continues military action against IS and an al-Qaida-affiliated group.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the incident had taken place at around 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) and lasted about half an hour.
A Russian Defense Ministry official said Syria has informed them that 62 of its soldiers were killed in the airstrike.
Russian Federation is a key ally of Bashar Assad and has been carrying out airstrikes on behalf of his forces since a year ago.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.
“We consider what happened as a natural result of the persistent refusal of the United States from the establishment of close cooperation with Russia in the fight against ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other affiliated terrorist groups”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Syria’s government said it was doing all that was necessary for the arrival of aid to those in need it in all parts of the country, particularly to eastern Aleppo.
IS has repeatedly attacked the government-held air base, which is in extremist-held territory. “We will see further steps from them against Syrian people and Syrian army”, Krydee said.
The US envoy to the United Nations spent some 30 seconds expressing “regret” over the unfortunate coalition airstrike that resulted in the loss of the lives of Syrian soldiers, and insisting that even if the ongoing investigation proves the US military is indeed to blame, it had never been their “intention” to strike Syrian military.
The deal has somewhat quieted the bombs over Syria’s second city Aleppo, but aid convoys have not been allowed to reach the roughly 250,000 civilians besieged by government forces.
The Russian military said it has complained to the U.S.at a joint working group in Geneva about the opposition’s failure to pull back in sync with the Syrian army, but received no immediate response.
Advertisement
Mr. Jolani reached out to rebel groups as they have been given a fateful choice: sever any tactical alliance with his Qaeda-linked militants, now known as the Levant Conquest Front, and lose an effective ally – or potentially face joint airstrikes from Russian Federation and the United States under the deal they negotiated.
