Four air strikes hit rebel-held parts of Syria’s Aleppo on Sunday, a monitor said, in the first raids on the battered city since a truce took effect. On Saturday, Vitaly Churkin, the Russian U.N. envoy, suggested the strike was not an accident and said that the US had not coordinated the strike with Russian military officials.
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Moscow stepped up its war of words with Washington on Sunday, saying air strikes by a USA -led coalition on the Syrian army threatened the implementation of a U.S.
Under the ceasefire deal, if the truce can last seven days and humanitarian access is granted, the United States and Russian Federation will work together to target ISIS. Those seven days of calm and aid deliveries were required before the US and Russian Federation could embark on a plan to co-operate in targeting the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates working in Syria.
The raid escalated tensions between Russian Federation and the United States as the Syrian ceasefire faltered, with a fresh barrage of air strikes by aircraft on rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo.
Russia’s foreign ministry described the attack as being “on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance with Isil terrorists”.
Konashenkov said Moscow still has not been able to contact the US-backed opposition to coordinate ceasefire efforts, despite Washington’s assurances.
He said US and Russian officials were meeting in Geneva to try to sort out aid deliveries to Aleppo and other besieged communities.
‘We can confirm that the UK participated in the coalition air strike south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation.The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units.
Incidentally, the United States coalition carried out airstrikes on the Syrian Army near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor on Saturday. It said the airstrikes were “on objective and planned in advance”, and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
According to the Syrian government forces command, 62 servicemen were killed and 100 more injured in an airstrike near the city of Deir ez-Zor.
The Obama administration sent its condolences to Syria for an air strike that inadvertently struck Syrian military forces, reported the Associated Press Monday. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, lashed out at Russian Federation for requesting an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Saturday night, calling the request a “stunt”.
The Americans “not only turned out to be unable to give an adequate explanation of what happened, but also tried, as is their custom, to turn everything upside down”, the statement said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, answer reporters’ questions in Geneva, Switzerland on September 9, 2016. It is reported that up to 90 Syrian government soldiers were mistakenly killed during the raid near a military airport.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a new push by Turkish forces and Syrian rebels aimed at capturing a town held by the Islamic State group.
“We can confirm that the United Kingdom participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria … on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation”, the British Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Australian planes were also involved in the errant air raid.
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.
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A US official said the USA military believed reports that about 60 Syrian troops were killed but declined to speculate on the number of wounded. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone.
