Moscow cited the strikes, which allowed Islamic State fighters to briefly overrun a Syrian army position near Deir al-Zor airport, as evidence that the United States was helping the militants.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group gave a toll of 83 soldiers killed, as it confirmed the strikes were US-led coalition raids.
A Syrian military statement said the plane had come down during an operation against Islamic State in Deir al-Zor and the pilot had died.
Russia’s defence ministry said more than 60 Syrian soldiers were killed and around 100 wounded in four strikes by two F-16s and two A-10s.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it had sent an urgent message asking the UN Security Council to “condemn the U.S. aggression”, according to a report from Syria’s SANA official news agency.
Syria’s national TV also confirmed the killing of Syrian servicemen by the US -led coalition.
The U.S. -led coalition in Syria carried out airstrikes against a Syrian military installation in the eastern part of the country on Saturday, according to multiple reports based on accounts from the Syrian and Russian governments.
“Coalition forces believed they were striking a Daesh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike”, the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. It said the airstrikes were “on objective and planned in advance”, and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
The Syrian military official said government troops had regained control of areas the terrorists captured, “as a result of the American aircraft aggression”.
Yet significant drama played out outside the meeting, as both Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the United Nations, and Russian diplomat Vitaly Churkin delivered dueling statements to the press.
“Straight after the coalition’s strikes, ISIS militants launched an offensive”, said the statement, adding that “fierce fighting against the terrorists” ensued nearby.
“These attacks confirmed that the USA clearly supports the terrorism of Daesh”, SAMA television, a state-run news outlet, said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group, which is also known as ISIS.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry had similar words, according to spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The cease-fire, which does not apply to attacks on IS, already has been the subject of disputes between Moscow and Washington, with each accusing the other of failing to fully implement it. It halted the operation after it was informed by Russian Federation that Syrian troops may have been hit.
Russian Federation called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday night, and its envoy accused the USA of violating its commitments under the cease-fire by bombing Syrian forces.
The source at the airport said the air strike had paved the way for Daesh fighters to overun the position at Jebel Tharda.
Once the humanitarian relief was in, the Russians and Americans were meant to agree on targeting jihadist factions: Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, the former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and ISIS.
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Syria’s army controls Deir al-Zor airport and parts of the city which are otherwise entirely surrounded by territory held by Islamic State.
