Russian Federation is a key ally of Bashar Assad and has been carrying out airstrikes on behalf of his forces since past year.
Advertisement
In New York, the UN Security Council cancelled an urgent meeting that had been called to discuss whether to endorse the ceasefire, billed as the “last chance” to end the five-year war that has killed 3,00,000 people.
“Syria is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in close proximity, but coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit”.
A USA military official said he was “pretty sure” the targets hit in a halted coalition-led air strike on Saturday were Syrian forces, and that the attack was carried out using US intelligence after days spent tracking potential targets. It said earlier that only 30 soldiers had been killed, citing the same source.
The cease-fire has largely held since it went into effect on Monday, bringing calm to much of the country despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides.
“We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world: That the White House is defending Islamic State”.
The U.S. military, in an apparent admission that it may have hit the position, said in a statement that coalition air strikes near Deir al-Zor had been halted when Russian Federation told coalition officials they may have hit the Syrian army.
The U.S. military says it halted an air raid against IS in eastern Syria after it was informed by Russian Federation that it might have struck Syrian troops.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense said ISIS militants launched an attack on the Syrian position after the airstrikes, Sputnik reported”.
The Syrian military called the bombing a “serious and blatant aggression” against Syrian forces, and said it was “conclusive evidence” that the USA and its allies support IS militants.
The statement says “the airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military”. Russian Federation has been waging a year-old air campaign on behalf of Assad’s forces and closely coordinates with them.
Russia blamed the United States for failing to coordinate with them on the airstrikes, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told Sputnik.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the airstrike took place in a military base near the airport in eastern Syria and was carried out by two F-16s and two A-10s. He did not identify the planes’ country affiliation, but said they were part of the worldwide coalition. He says the planes came from the direction of the border with Iraq.
If the strikes were a targeting error, the ministry said the bombings were evidence of Washington’s stubborn refusal to coordinate its military action in Syria with Russian Federation.
IS has repeatedly attacked the government-held air base, which is an isolated enclave deep in extremist-held territory. An IS advance in Deir el-Zour would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of civilians living in government-held areas.
Russian jets had been bombing in the same area at the same time, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“If this airstrike was carried out due to an error in the coordinates of the target, it is a direct outcome of (the) U.S. side’s unwillingness to coordinate its actions against terrorist groups with Russia”, Sputnik quoted the spokesman as saying.
The Syrian military said it viewed the strike as evidence the United States and the coalition support ISIS. President Bashar Assad’s government views all those fighting against it as “terrorists”, and has long accused the USA and other rebel supporters of backing extremists.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the USA to publish a written copy of the ceasefire agreement in order to hold to account those factions which fail to abide by its tenets.
Putin said Washington apparently “has the desire to keep the capabilities to fight the lawful government of President Assad”, calling it a “very risky path”. “But this is a very risky route”.
A challenge for Washington is to persuade opposition groups it backs to separate themselves from the former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, previously called 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.
But Washington has warned Russian Federation that unless aid is delivered to Aleppo, it will not move ahead with the formation of the joint coordination center.
The U.N. has accused the Syrian government of obstructing aid to the besieged Aleppo.
It says the government has worked to facilitate the entry of aid convoys to Aleppo, but that armed groups have failed to withdraw their forces from the routes they would need to use and are committing “dangerous, provocative acts”.
Russia’s military says Syrian rebels have violated a cease-fire 55 times over the past day, including with strikes on military and civilian targets in the divided northern city of Aleppo.
President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was keeping to its obligations under the truce, and the Syrian government was “fully abiding” by the agreement.
Advertisement
Syria’s conflict has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population since March 2011.
