The U.S. military said late Saturday that the coalition had halted an air raid against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria after being told by Russian Federation that it might have struck Syrian government forces.
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If the strikes were a targeting error, the ministry said the bombings were evidence of Washington’s refusal to consult Russian Federation over its military action in Syria.
She said the strikes threatened to undermine the ceasefire in Syria brokered by Russian Federation, which has been aiding Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, and the United States, which has backed some rebel groups.
“The coalition 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”, CENTCOM said.
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.
The United States military said the coalition stopped the attacks on Saturday against what it had believed to be Islamic State positions in northeast Syria after Russian Federation informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit.
“In the past 24 hours, the number of attacks have risen sharply”, with 55 attacks on government positions and civilians, killing 12 civilians, he said. An IS advance in Deir el-Zour would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of civilians living in government-held areas.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday evening on Syria after the us -led coalition staged airstrikes on Syrian military positions, diplomatic sources told Xinhua. Russian Federation backs the Syrian government and Mr. Assad, and the United States has called for him to step down.
“The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned”, U.S. Central Command said in its statement.
Under the cease-fire agreement, the USA and Russian Federation would work together to target the Fatah al-Sham Front, as well as IS, while Assad’s forces refrain from striking opposition-held areas.
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. A partial cease-fire that started on Monday continues to steadily unravel after it was declared with much fanfare by the United States and Russian Federation.
“The situation in Syria is worsening”, Russian General Vladimir Savchenko said in a televised briefing earlier.
“This comes from the problems the U.S.is facing on the Syrian track – they still can not separate the so-called healthy part of the opposition from the half-criminal and terrorist elements”, Putin said during a trip to Kyrgyzstan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Putin’s remarks during a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
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”.
Lavrov noted the “refusal by an array of illegal armed groups to join the cease-fire” and Washington’s obligation to “separate units of the moderate opposition from terrorist groupings”. “But this is a very unsafe route”.
Washington and Moscow reached an agreement in September that calls for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria.
The five-year-old civil war has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s population, drawing in global and regional powers, causing an worldwide refugee crisis and inspiring jihadist attacks around the world.
The U.N. has accused the Syrian government of obstructing aid to the besieged Aleppo.
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Syria’s conflict has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population since March 2011.
