An MoD spokesman said they were “fully co-operating” with the coalition investigation into what happened.. The strikes on the Deir el-Zour site lasted nearly an hour, and he indicated there still is some lingering doubt about whether the strikes actually hit Syrian forces.
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USA commanders called off the strike within minutes, but the damage had been done.
When a Russian military officer tried to notify the USA this weekend that its coalition was hitting Syrian forces, the American point of contact was not available immediately, a US military spokesman said Tuesday.
Central Command, the command is moving quickly to appoint an investigating officer to look into the airstrike that took place September 17 and reportedly hit Syrian regime forces, a Centcom spokesman said today.
Thomas said that the coalition had been tracking the convoy for “roughly two full days … observing the target and believed we had pretty good intelligence of what we were looking at”.
Providing new details of the strikes, which complicated what has been a largely unsuccessful cease-fire agreement, Thomas said the US military is appointing a brigadier general to investigate the incident. “Our best indications are that that process was followed”.
Since then, more than 4,900 strikes have been carried out by coalition forces, which include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the UK.
The minister declined to say what Australian aircraft were involved, but it is known the RAAF operations involve Super Hornet bombers, a refuelling aircraft and a Wedgetail early warning and control aircraft.
Asked about the delay between the first phone call from the Russians and the second, Thomas said one person is responsible for taking calls from the Russians every day. No one at the operations center for the US -led coalition could figure out what the Russian officer on the other end of the line was on about.
The U.S. State Department reiterated in a statement on Monday that both steps were necessary before the U.S. and Russian Federation would look into establishing a Joint Implementation Center to help with counter-Islamic State operations in Syria.
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The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, confirmed that his country’s aircraft had been involved, but pulled out when Russian officials advised the targets may have been Syrian military personnel. The International Committee of the Red Cross said the strike killed about 20 civilians, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers.
