Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday questioned the USA commitment to a shaky cease-fire in Syria, suggesting that Washington wasn’t prepared to break with “terrorist elements” battling Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
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Russian Federation and the United States brokered a cease-fire in Syria that took effect on Monday and has largely held despite dozens of alleged violations.
Russia’s United Nations representative Vitaly Churkin said Russian Federation had no “specific evidence” of the U.S. colluding with Islamic State militants.
The official says the notification was sent through Russian Federation.
Central Command denied it would carry out such an airstrike on goal.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the US attack killed 62 Syrian troops, wounded 100 more and opened the way for an Islamic State offensive. 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.
Syria’s national TV also confirmed the killing of Syrian servicemen by the US -led coalition.
She said the USA is investigating the incident in remarks made outside the Security Council chamber on Saturday night, as Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was condemning the U.S. air strike inside the closed meeting.
Russia, the Syrian government’s main ally, said it would call an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the strikes.
The Americans “not only turned out to be unable to give an adequate explanation of what happened, but also tried, as is their custom, to turn everything upside down”, the statement said.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an army statement saying it was a “serious and blatant attack” that enabled IS to overrun the Syrian army positions. Assad’s government views all those fighting against it as “terrorists”, and has long accused the USA and other rebel supporters of backing extremists. Israeli media is reporting that the system intercepted a mortar round on Saturday, and that it’s the first time Iron Dome has been successfully used in the north.
The Observatory confirmed the downing of the Russian-made MiG warplane over Tharda mountain.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Russian warplanes pounded ISIS positions around Deir Ezzor late on Saturday as fierce clashes broke out between ISIS and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Government areas have been relying on aid that was being dropped from aircraft. The government controls the air base and parts of Deir el-Zour city, while IS controls the entire province by the same name.
The bombardment comes as a truce brokered by the USA and Russian Federation, which went into effect in Syria on Monday (local time), appeared increasingly fragile. Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the group, condemned the cease-fire agreement in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV aired Saturday.
“Russia is exerting all possible effort to restrain (Syrian) government troops from returning fire”, Senior Army General Viktor Poznikhir said.
Russian Federation also carries out attacks against Daesh targets, in Deir el-Zour and other parts of Syria.
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Video footage published by Islamic State’s affiliated news agency Amaq showed a helicopter being shot and crashing to the ground against cries of “It’s fallen, God is greatest”.
