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Obama envoy denies USA coalition hit Syrian army camp

However, Brett McGurk, Barack Obama’s envoy to the coalition, took to Twitter, saying: “Reports of coalition involvement are false”.

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USA officials quickly denied the accusation, which if true would mark the first time the coalition had targeted Syrian army units since its air campaign to roll back the advances of Islamic State militants that began more than a year ago.

The UK-based Syrian observatory said 13 military personnel were also wounded. One senior official said the Russian aircraft were in the air around 9 p.m. Sunday near the city of Deir el-Zour, whereas the coalition aircraft were flying an hour earlier about 55 kilometers away.

“The US coalition lacks the seriousness and credibility to effectively combat terrorism”, the ministry said.

“We are aware that Russian Federation conducted long-range bomber strikes into Syria yesterday”. “We have no indication any Syrian soldiers were near our strikes”, he said.

However, a coalition spokesman insisted that its forces had carried out no strikes in the area near the camp. “That was the only area in Deir al-Zor we struck yesterday”, he told AFP.

A monitoring group said an air strike believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led coalition killed four Syrian military personnel in Deir Ezzor province, which is mostly held by ISIS.

A Syrian military source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said four soldiers had been killed and 13 injured in the strike, near the town of Ayyash.

Three armored vehicles, four military vehicles, heavy machine-guns and an arms and ammunition depot were destroyed, it added.

Turkey says its troops have been stationed at a small base outside the IS-held city of Mosul since previous year as part of a training mission coordinated with the Iraqi government.

US-led coalition airstrikes have pounded targets in Syria’s Raqqa province, reportedly killing a minimum of 32 IS fighters and wounding more than 40 others.

An eastern province in Syria, Deir al-Zor represents a key link for Isis between its Raqqa stronghold and territories in Iraq.

In recent weeks, coalition forces have actively targeted oil wells and infrastructure in the province in an attempt to deny the extremist group oil revenues.

Russia, a key ally of Syria, is waging its own air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad, and has also been striking in Deir al-Zor.

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The director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross says the organization is trying to reach out to the Islamic State group to help get humanitarian aid to people in areas under its control.

Syrian government says coalition hit army camp