The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq said on Sunday (Sept 18).
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The official said the notification was sent through Russian Federation, and that the United States will continue to pursue compliance with a cessation of hostilities as it continues military action against IS and an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Syria.
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”.
Australia, which said it was one of several coalition countries whose aircraft took part, offered its “condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded”.
“It is highly suspicious that the United States chose to conduct this particular air strike at this time”, Churkin said, adding “it was quite significant and not accidental that it happened just two days before the Russian-American arrangements were supposed to come into full force”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict, confirmed the aircraft was an MiG Syrian warplane.
The United States has apologised for an air strike against Syrian government forces fighting the Islamic State group.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the strike jeopardised a fragile American-Russian brokered ceasefire in Syria. “And yet in the face of none of these atrocities has Russian Federation expressed outrage nor has it demanded investigations nor has it ever called for a Saturday night emergency consultation in the Security Council or a Monday day or a Tuesday day or a Wednesday day, Thursday day, Friday day, Saturday, Sunday – you name it”, she said.
“If what Ambassador Power has done today is any indication of their possible reaction then we are in serious trouble”, Mr Churkin said.
It is not uncommon for US -led coalition forces to confer with Russian officials “as a professional courtesy and to deconflict Coalition and Russian aircraft”, but it is not required by a current agreement on flights in Syria.
The Syrian General Command has called the bombing a “serious and blatant aggression” against Syrian forces, and said it was “conclusive evidence” that the USA and its allies support Daesh militants.
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. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had similar words, according to spokeswoman Zakharova.
The main focus of the ceasefire was to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Syrian people.
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“This might put in danger this Joint Implementation Center that the U.S. and the Russians are supposed to set up in the next few days to coordinate just these kinds of strikes against ISIS and to prevent just what happened”, he said Saturday.
