The official also says the USA will continue to pursue compliance with a cessation of hostilities as it continues military action against ISIS and an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Syria.
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In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, citing the Syrian General Command, said 62 LSyrian soldies wree killed and over 100 injured, the state-backed RT.com reports.
Russian Federation is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and has been carrying out airstrikes on behalf of his forces since previous year.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. The military also said that coalition officers at the air operations command hub in Qatar had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike.
“If the airstrike was caused by the wrong coordinates of targets than it’s a direct outcome of the stubborn unwillingness of the American side to coordinate with Russian Federation in its actions against terrorist groups in Syria”, Konashenkov added.
IS has repeatedly attacked the government-held air base, which is in extremist-held territory. Earlier in the day, the coalition announced it carried out a strike against IS supply routes near the city. Russian Federation also carries out attacks against IS targets, in Deir el-Zour and other parts of Syria.
Between 62 and 83 Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed by the strike by aircraft from the US-led coalition in the country’s east.
The base is surrounded by ISIL militants and their advance could potentially dealing a major blow to a shaky cease-fire that took effect Monday.
“The truce, as we have warned, and we told the State Department – will not hold out”, a senior rebel official in Aleppo said, pointing to the continued presence of a United Nations aid convoy at the Turkish border awaiting permission to enter.
Russia, along with Iran and Arab Shi’ite militias backs President Bashar Assad, while some of the Sunni rebels seeking to unseat him are supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf Arab states.
Russian military officials lashed out at the United States in the strongest language yet over the ceasefire struck last week in Geneva, a last-ditch effort to stop the bloodshed in Syria.
It said the attack showed that the USA and its allies were not in fact interested in fighting terrorism.
“In my opinion, this comes from the desire to keep the combat potential in fighting the legitimate government of Bashar Assad”.
“This is a very risky route”, he said. The truce calls for a halt to the violence between the Syrian regime and rebel forces, but it does not cover militant groups considered terrorists, such as ISIS and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al Nusra Front. Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the group, condemned the cease-fire agreement in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV aired Saturday. Mr Lavrov noted the “refusal by an array of illegal armed groups to join the ceasefire”, and Washington’s obligation to “separate units of the moderate opposition from terrorist groupings”.
The exchange comes against a backdrop of US and Russian attempts to implement a cease-fire agreement that would allow the two countries to work together to target Islamic State extremists as well as al-Qaeda-linked rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
On the other hand, the United States held Russian Federation responsible for delays in delivering aid to desperate civilians, especially in Aleppo. Fighting had “declined substantially” since the start of the truce and even battle-ravaged Aleppo had “dramatically improved” with the onset of tenuous calm, according to Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria.
The arrangements are very detailed on the mechanics of ending violence in Aleppo and opening up a key artery to the city for humanitarian deliveries.
The forces had been tracking the position for a significant amount of time before the strike, and the location was in an area the coalition had struck in the past, it said.
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At least 250,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011.
