Instead, an errant strike Saturday by the USA -led coalition against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, that mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian government soldiers, has exposed the deficit of trust between the two powers.
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The US expressed “regret” for the “unintentional loss of life”, which it said came as it was attacking IS in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday.
The Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a military source at Deir al-Zor airport reported at least 90 Syrian soldiers were killed in the strikes.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that despite the strikes on the Syrians, Syrian government forces were principally behind the truce violations.
“The actions of coalition pilots – if they, as we hope, were not taken on an order from Washington – are on the boundary between criminal negligence and connivance with Islamic State terrorists”, the ministry said.
“We strongly urge Washington to exert the needed pressure on the illegal armed groups under its patronage to implement the ceasefire plan unconditionally”. He says the USA has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire.
The U.S. military has admitted that it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against IS on Saturday. Russia, after calling an emergency Saturday night meeting of the UN Security Council, suggested that the strike was “not accidental” and that it was created to derail the deal.
“We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world: that the White House is defending IS. Now there can be no doubts about that”, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in comments aired by state TV.
Churkin spoke outside the Security Council chamber after his US counterpart, Samantha Power, appeared before reporters as the meeting was starting and scornfully called the closed-door session a Russian “stunt”.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the attack put “a very big question mark” over the peace deal.
The dispute should further complicate humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria, including its largest pre-war city Aleppo, where the fragile truce is under threat.
The UN said aid trucks that had been expected to move to Aleppo on Sunday were once again being delayed.
According to the Washington Post, the strike was carried out in Deir al-Zour, an eastern Syrian city that doubles as a frontline between the Syrian army and ISIS.
A senior White House official said the USA has relayed “regret” through the Russian government for the unintentional loss of life to Syrian forces.
“Seriously?” she said. “And they’re calling this emergency meeting?”
The Russians did not notify the United States that coalition aircraft were hitting Syrian military positions until 55 minutes into the airstrike, the official said.
Syrian state media said insurgents shelled residential areas in the northern city of Aleppo and the central province of Homs.
The terror group ISIS claimed the man was a “soldier of Islamic State”, although authorities are yet to confirm his link to ISIS.
The cease-fire deal reached September 9 calls for the two former Cold War rivals to set up a joint facility for sharing intelligence and coordinating airstrikes against ISIS and al Nusra.
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A man carries an injured person during an airstrike on Aleppo’s rebel held al-Fardous district, in Syria.
