Syrian President Bashar Assad says that USA airstrikes which killed 62 Syrian government troops were “intentional” and they lasted for an hour.
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US officials believe Russian aircraft were responsible for the strike, but Moscow has denied involvement and the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday a US Predator drone was in the area when the convoy was attacked.
Recriminations over the attack the next day, on a convoy delivering aid to a rebel held area in Syria’s north, are still reverberating around the world.
He said, “Those convoys were in the area of the militants, the area under the control of the terrorists”.
“Civil defense crews are incapable of extracting them from underneath the rubble due to the intense airstrikes on the city of Aleppo”, he said. He told the AP that “I’m sure that the majority of those Syrians who left Syria, they will go back when the security and when the life goes back to its normality and the minimal requirements for livelihood will be affordable to them, they will go back”. In that regard, I would say whatever the American officials said about the conflicts in Syria in general has no credibility. He also says the United States lacks “the will” to join forces with Russian Federation in fighting extremists.
Aljood also said the fire truck that was destroyed in the air strike was one of only three fire trucks serving the eastern part of the city.
Assad said he did not believe the American account and said that attack targeted a “huge” area constituting of many hills. “You don’t commit a mistake for more than one hour”, he said. Food aid for rebel-held east Aleppo, which has been stalled at the Syrian border since last week, will go bad in days, the United Nations said today, urging the country’s leader to clear the delivery.
The military operation, conducted by Syrian forces, formally marks the end of a short-lived ceasefire that sought to quell violence, coordinate efforts to defeat ISIS and allow aid to enter the besieged city.
Throughout the conflict, Assad’s forces have been accused of bombing hospitals and civilians and choking opposition cities. Millions have fled Syria, some drowning at sea in the Mediterranean while trying to reach safety.
State Department spokesman John Kirby, commenting on Assad’s assertions, said: “It’s hard to see how these ridiculous claims deserve a response, except to say they prove yet again the degree to which Assad has lost his legitimacy to govern and how vital it remains for the global community to achieve a political solution that gives the Syrian people a voice in their future”.
Russian and Syrian warplanes and artillery were pounding opposition held areas again Thursday morning, some in the countryside around the embattled city of Aleppo, others close to the center of the city – once Syria’s most populous.
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Rooting out terrorism groups in Syria, he said, “is absolutely important in order to have truces and reconciliation”. “You have to use armaments”.
