If confirmed, it would mark the first known direct American strike on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
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Insurgents have said they only reluctantly accepted the deal because it could relieve the dire humanitarian situation in areas they control, including in eastern Aleppo, but the agreement was now at risk after the promised aid deliveries failed and bombings continued in some areas.
Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, gave informal comments to the media on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic on Saturday, September 17, after USA forces carried out an airstrike on what they say they “believed to be an ISIL target.’ According to reports, U.S. officials said that the Russians called the United States “about 25 minutes into the strike”, to say that coalition forces were hitting Syrian regime troops”.
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier Saturday the USA -led coalition killed 62 Syrian government troops and injured some 100 others in a round of airstrikes in eastern Syria’s province of Deir al-Zour.
“Coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit”, the US military statement said.
In a statement Saturday, the Syrian military says the airstrikes caused casualties and damage to equipment, and enabled an IS advance on the hill overlooking the air base.
“The meeting will take place behind closed doors”, the sources said.
A Syrian military spokesman told a briefing early Sunday that the US airstrike destroyed three tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, four mortars and an anti-aircraft gun, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
The warplanes entered the airspace of Syria from the Iraqi border, the spokesman said. Speaking at the U.N headquarters in New York, Power said “even by Russia’s standards, tonight’s stunt, a stunt replete with moralism and grand-standing is uniquely cynical and hypocritical”.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin then walked out of the acrimonious meeting before Power spoke to the council.
The statement calls it a “serious and blatant attack on Syria and its military” and “firm proof of the USA support of Daesh and other terrorist groups”.
Zakharova was quoted by the state news agency Tass as saying that “after today’s attack on the Syrian army, we come to the awful conclusion that the White House is defending the Islamic State”. Power said the Russian spokeswoman should be “embarrassed” for making such an insinuation.
Prime Minister John Key will chair a second urgent Security Council meeting and push for a political solution after the Syrian ceasefire was endangered by United States air strikes. The statement claimed five US aircraft took part in the airstrike.
She said the strikes threatened to undermine the ceasefire in Syria brokered by Russian Federation, which has been aiding Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, and the United States, which has backed some rebel groups.
The official says the notification was sent through Russian Federation. Also tonight a senior Obama administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the US had expressed regret today to the Syrian regime. The official was not authorized to discuss the notification by name and requested anonymity.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a woman and child were killed Saturday in Talbiseh, in the central Homs province.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. He did not identify the planes’ country affiliation, but said they were part of the worldwide coalition.
“Straight after the coalition’s strikes, IS militants launched an offensive”, said the statement, adding that “fierce fighting against the terrorists” ensued nearby. An IS advance in Deir el-Zour would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of civilians living in government-held areas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expressing frustration at Washington’s refusal to publish the Syrian cease-fire deal reached with Russia, but says Moscow won’t unilaterally release it.
The incident marks the first USA -led attack on a government forces’ positions since the coalition started striking IS positions in Syria in 2014.
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The department said it would fully cooperate with a Coalition review of the incident.
