The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the United States and the coalition failed to provide any warning to Russia prior to the bombing attack at Deir Ez-Zor carried out by two American F-16s and two American A10 ground attack aircraft.
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The cease-fire took effect on Monday, and despite reports of violations, it has largely held.
Russian Federation is gravely concerned by the fact that the air strikes took place amid multiple documented cases of the nationwide ceasefire being violated by the Syrian rebels, the Foreign Ministry added.
The ministry’s statement, sent to the presidents of the United Nations and the UN Security Council, said American warplanes repeatedly attacked Syrian army positions on Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. Department of Defense is gathering information on an airstrike in eastern Syria that was halted amid fears that the airstrike hit Syrian soldiers in the region on Saturday.
It again called on Washington to force Syrian rebels to sign on to the truce, warning that “otherwise, the realisation of Russia-US agreements. could be put in danger”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group gave a death toll of 90 soldiers.
Russian Federation said the United States was being obstructive and deceptive regarding the air strike by coalition warplanes on the Syrian military position.
A ministry statement on Sunday said that in an emergency U.N. Security Council session called following the airstrike, the United States took “an unconstructive and indistinct position”.
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 ceasefire’s co-sponsors, Russian Federation and the United States, have traded accusations over the fraying deal, with relations strained even further after the US-led raid killed scores of Syrian soldiers on Saturday.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power also expressed regret for the loss of life, but also accused Russian Federation of pulling a “stunt” by calling for an emergency Security Council meeting over the incident.
The observatory confirmed the downing of the Russian-made MiG warplane over Tharda mountain.
A Russian Defense Ministry official said Syria has informed them that 62 of its soldiers were killed in the airstrike.
Hours after the coalition strike on Saturday, the Pentagon admitted US-led pilots may have hit Assad’s forces, but said that they “believed they were striking a Daesh (ISIS) fighting position”. An IS advance in Deir el-Zour would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of civilians living in government-held areas.
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The diplomatic row is likely to further complicate the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid to Syria. The government controls the air base and parts of Deir el-Zour city, while IS controls the entire province by the same name. However, aid convoys have been unable to enter rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo – a key component of the deal. The ceasefire does not include IS and al Qaida-linked militants.
