Syria’s government said it was doing all that was necessary for the arrival of aid to those in need in all parts of the country, particularly eastern Aleppo.
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But the Russian government has claimed the attack allowed ISIS to overrun a Syrian military outpost in north-eastern Syria and said there can now be “no doubts” that the USA is backing the jihadis.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that U.S. jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four airstrikes by two F-16s and two A-10s coming from the direction of Iraq.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday the air strikes by a US-led coalition on Syrian army forces threatened the implementation of a U.S. ceasefire plan for Syria and urged Washington to thoroughly investigate the accident.
It said the incident was a result of Washington’s “stubborn refusal” to cooperate with Moscow in fighting Daesh, the Nusra Front – now renamed Jabhat Fatah al-Sham – and “other terrorist groups”.
Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN, lashed out at Russian Federation for requesting an emergency UN Security Council meeting Saturday night, calling the request a “stunt”.
“The U.S. will continue to pursue compliance with the Cessation of Hostilities as we continue military action against ISIL and al Qaeda”.
The US-led coalition has carried out 12 strikes against Daesh in Syria, the US Department of Defense said Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group with contacts across Syria, cited a military source at Deir al-Zor airport as saying at least 90 Syrian soldiers had been killed.
And Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused the U.S. of violating agreements that it would not target Syrian army positions.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Saturday night at Russia’s request to discuss the strike.
Power angrily denounced the Russian call for the United Nations meeting as a stunt.
Ms Power told reporters: “Even by Russia’s standards tonight’s stunt – a stunt replete with moralism and grandstanding – is uniquely cynical and hypocritical”. It said the airstrikes were “on goal and planned in advance”, and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
“Since 2011, the Assad regime has been intentionally striking civilian targets with horrifying, predictable regularity”.
Insurgents say they only reluctantly accepted the initial deal to relieve the dire humanitarian situation in besieged areas they control, and blamed Russian Federation for undermining the truce.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due on Wednesday to attend a special Security Council meeting on Syria.
“The latest U.S. attack-this time on Syrian troops ostensibly surrounded by ISIS fighters-demonstrates once again why using war against terrorism fails”.
The CENTCOM official described the target as “irregular forces”, adding that multiple U.S. aircraft struck six military troop carrier vehicles and one tank which were “out in the open”.
(Adds Syrian military statement) BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) – The Syrian military on Sunday said one of its war planes had been downed in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor during an operation against Islamic state, where the militant group has been under intense air strikes in the past 24 hours.
A Russian Defence Ministry official stated that Syria informed them that 62 of its soldiers were killed in the airstrike.
Syrian state-run news agency SANA said the military was able to quickly regain control of the area from ISIS.
The United States military said the coalition stopped the attacks against what it had believed to be Islamic State positions in northeast Syria after Russian Federation informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had similar words, according to spokeswoman Zakharova.
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Both sides have reported dozens of violations since the truce went into effect Monday evening. But almost a week after the ceasefire began, desperate populations in besieged areas are yet to receive aid, which has been held up on the Turkish border as humanitarian agencies await guarantees of safety from the warring parties. He said the strikes would “feed conspiracy theories that Washington is in league with ISIS”, as well as create a pretext for Mr. Assad to avoid his commitments under the cease-fire deal. To do that, they are supposed to set up a Joint Implementation Center.
