A Syrian military jet was shot down during a combat mission against Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) near the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, Syrian state SANA news agency reports, citing a military source. Syria and its ally Russian Federation have condemned the strike, saying it killed dozens of Syrian troops and allowed the extremists to briefly advance on army positions.
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Russian Federation on Sunday called on Washington to thoroughly investigate a coalition strike that killed at least 62 Syrian troops, but stopped short of burying the ceasefire agreement struck in Geneva. Syria’s government claims the attack was not a mistake, and rather a “very serious and flagrant aggression” that reveals the US’s hidden interest in supporting jihadist groups to oust president Bashar al-Assad.
It marked the first known direct United States strike on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says warplanes fired four missiles on Sunday. “But while there were these incidents. we shouldn’t forget that what has harmed the American-Russian ceasefire is firstly the regime”.
Syria’s state news agency is reporting that troops have regained control of areas they lost to the Islamic State group in the east of the country after an airstrike by the USA -led coalition.
The US “relayed our regret through the Russian Federation for the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces fighting ISIL”, a senior US official told CNN late Saturday.
The incident, which Russian Federation said killed 62 Syrian soldiers, sparked an angry exchange between diplomats at the United Nations.
Syrian opposition activists are reporting the first airstrikes on rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo since a US and Russian-brokered truce went into effect. Government areas have been relying on airlifted aid.
The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the seven-day truce ends at midnight Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested that the attack showed Washington was defending Islamic State, a charge that sparked an angry denunciation from the USA ambassador at the United Nations.
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Both sides have reported dozens of violations since the truce went into effect Monday evening. The pilot was captured by an Al-Qaeda affiliate at that time.
