Although the Central Command statement did not mention casualties, a senior administration official said the United States had “relayed our regret” through Russian Federation “for the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces fighting ISIL”, an acronym for the Islamic State, and had launched an internal investigation. The opposition’s Local Coordination Committees also reported that government warplanes attacked the central rebel-held town of Rastan.
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The ceasefire ends hopes for delivery of food and other aid to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple the Syrian government.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had registered 53 ceasefire violations in the past 24 hours.
Kerry said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.an ally of Russia’s, has continued “indiscriminate” bombing and is “the single biggest blockade” for Syrians desperate for humanitarian aid.
The U.S, is investigating but Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN on Sunday the incident had been a “terrible thing. that we all acknowledge and regret”.
It called the strike a “serious and blatant attack on Syria and its military”, and “firm proof of the US support of Daesh and other terrorist groups”, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
The statement said the alleged strikes were “conclusive evidence that the United States and its allies support ISIS and other terrorist organizations”.
“These attacks confirmed that the US clearly supports the terrorism of Daesh”, Syrian state-run SAMA television said.
But it was already on the verge of collapse after USA -led coalition airstrikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in the northeast region of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, saying that it had mistaken them for members of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).
The opposition blamed government warplanes. The situation in Syria is deteriorating, the Russian military said earlier, adding that the United States would be responsible if a fragile ceasefire in force since Monday collapses. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement that both “terrorists and the opposition” are using the truce to “boost their forces and prepare for renewed hostilities”.
Russian Federation also said it was seeing a merger of Syria’s moderate opposition with jihadist group Al Nusra Front.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Moscow’s request for the meeting was a “stunt”, while her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin accused the U.S. of violating agreements that it would not target army positions.
The strike has threatened an already fragile USA – and Russia-brokered cease-fire that has largely held despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. The LCC and the Observatory say a number of people were wounded in the air raids.
The truce took effect last Monday.
The Pentagon said coalition aircraft conducted an airstrike south of Deir ez-Zour that was “halted immediately” after Russian Federation informed the us -led coalition “that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military”.
France has also been pushing for a separate U.N. Security Council resolution after a joint investigation by the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW found that Syrian government troops were responsible for two toxic gas attacks and Islamic State militants used sulfur mustard gas.
The advance regained territory lost to the extremists Saturday when Syrian troops were hit with airstrikes by the USA -led coalition.
Syrian state news agency SANA confirmed a plane had been shot down there and its pilot killed, but did not say who was responsible.
A USA official said the US military believed reports that about 60 Syrian troops were killed but declined to speculate on the number of wounded.
“Australia would never intentionally target a known Syrian military unit or actively support Daesh (IS)”.
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It said the airstrikes were “on goal and planned in advance”, and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
