The Syrian army said the raid had allowed ISIS fighters to gain ground around the key eastern airbase of Deir al-Zor, but a military source said government forces were back on the offensive yesterday.
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Russian Federation has called an urgent UN Security Council meeting after US-led coalition hit Syrian forces, killing 62 soldiers and wounding 100 more.
The US military’s refusal to coordinate its operations in Syria with Russian Federation and Syria shows that the recent US-led attack on Syrian government forces was intentional, says an analyst in Washington.
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.
Moscow stressed that it is concerned by the U.S. airstrike targeting the Syrian army units which had been destroying the Islamic State militants.
At an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting summoned by Russia Saturday night, the US and Russian ambassadors reportedly walked out of one another’s speeches to the council in order to criticize their counterpart to the press.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the United States attack had killed 62 Syrian troops, wounded 100 more and opened the way for an IS offensive.
Russia’s defence ministry said more than 60 Syrian soldiers were killed and around 100 wounded in four strikes by two F-16s and two A-10s.
The Observatory said the plane came down in the Jebel Tharda area which overlooks the government’s Deir al Zor military airport, Reuters reported.
The Pentagon said the airstrike was halted immediately after the Russians notified coalition officials that the aircraft were hitting Syrian military positions.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 80 soldiers were killed in the attacks.
Denouncing “tactics” by some, Ayrault, who has been critical of the United States for not sharing details of the ceasefire deal with its allies, said everything needed to be done during the U.N. General Assembly this week to “recreate the conditions for the ceasefire” and especially ensure aid entered the besieged city of Aleppo. The Islamic State controls much of the province, although there are some scattered Syrian military installations.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom -based opposition monitoring group, said fighting began around Damascus city Saturday night, continuing into Sunday.
The diplomatic dispute heated up on the last day of a seven-day ceasefire marred by a surge of violence as warplanes hit the strategic northern city of Aleppo for the first time since the truce came into effect.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry fired back in an interview with CNN, saying Russian Federation needs to stop Assad from attacking the opposition and blocking aid delivery.
In southern Syria, government helicopters dropped barrels bombs on a rebel-held village, killing eight people.
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The truce excludes operations against Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked militants. In Aleppo, warplanes fired missiles at three neighborhoods, wounding several people, according to the activist-run Local Coordination Committees and the Observatory. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Please see our terms of service for more information.
