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A 'mistake' the Americans say via the BBC.
I can't find any evidence of reporting on this from the main representatives of the Empire (NYT, the Guardian etc.)
‘The US-led
coalition has admitted its planes carried out an attack in eastern
Syria that the Russian army says killed at least 62 Syrian troops
fighting IS.”
The Russian Ministry of Defence has just held a press conference. More details to come.
US
Admits It Made A Mistake After Syria Accuses Coalition Of Killing 62
Soldiers In Act Of "Blatant Aggression"
17
September, 2016
Update 3:
Russia foreign ministry says it has "reached the terrifying
conclusion" that the US is conniving with the Islamic State.
Al Arabiya English
#Breaking Russian foreign ministry says has reached terrifying conclusion that US is conniving with ISIS http://ara.tv/5f4xm
* * *
Update
2: it
appears that Russia is angry, and has called a UN Security Council
session, while reporting that Washington never announced any plans to
conduct raids in the region in question:
#Breaking Russian foreign ministry says has reached terrifying conclusion that US is conniving with ISIS http://ara.tv/5f4xm
Barzan Sadiq
Update: Centcom has issued a statement admitting the killing of over 60 Syrian troops was a mistake.
Laura Rozen
Centcom. sounds like it was a mistake
Earlier:
If the latest news out of
Syria are confirmed, one can not only kiss last weekend's so-called
"ceasefire" goodbye, but a full blown war may be about to
erupt. The reason: moments ago the Syrian Army General Command
reported, and shortly thereafter the Russian military confirmed, that
US-coalition forces struck the Syrian airbase at Deir el-Zour,
killing at least 62 Syrian army troops, "paving the way"
for ISIS militants to advance in the fiercely contested area.
Zaid Benjamin
#Syria State TV: U.S. warplanes hit Syrian army base in Deir ez-Zor
According to Syria’s
official SANA news agency, the bombing took place on al-Tharda
Mountain in the region of Deir ez-Zor and caused casualties and
destruction on the ground.
Sixty-two Syrian soldiers
were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike by the US-led
coalition, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor
Konashenkov, confirmed citing information received from the Syrian
General Command.
There was no immediate
comment from Washington. If confirmed, the attack could be tantamount
to an act of war as it would be the first time the coalition has
targeted Syrian government forces. Subsequently, the Pentagon
told RT that it is “aware of the reports and checking with Centcom
and CJTF (Combined Joint Task Force)."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) and Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov walk into their meeting room in Geneva, Switzerland
In a statement Saturday,
the Syrian military says the airstrikes caused casualties and damage
to equipment, and enabled an IS advance on the hill overlooking the
air base. The statement calls it a "serious and blatant attack
on Syria and its military" and "firm proof of the U.S.
support of Daesh and other terrorist groups." Daesh is an Arabic
acronym for IS.
The Russian Defense
Ministry said on Saturday that the aircraft which carried out the
bombings had entered Syrian airspace from the territory of Iraq.
Four
strikes against Syrian positions was performed by two F-16 jet
fighters and two A-10 support aircraft, it dded.
"Immediately after
the airstrike by coalition planes, Islamic State militants launched
their offensive. Fierce fighting with the terrorists is currently
underway in the area of the airport where for a long a time
humanitarian aid for civilians was parachuted,” Konashenkov said.
“If
the airstrike was caused by the wrong coordinates of targets than
it’s a direct consequence of the stubborn unwillingness of the
American side to coordinate with Russia in its actions against
terrorist groups in Syria,”Konashenkov
stressed. Alternatively, the Syrians - and Russians - may claim that
the US coalition attack meant to cripple Syrian army forces, taking
the lethal conflict to an entirely new level, one where Syria and
Russia are effectively at war with the US coalition.
Meanwhile, it appears
that the Assad regime, which recently also garnered the support of
Chinese military forces, is preparing for a full-blown escalation:
the Syrian General Command has called the bombing a “serious
and blatant aggression”
against Syrian forces, and said it was "conclusive evidence"
that the US and its allies support IS militants.
* * *
Earlier on Saturday,
Russia accused the US of being reluctant to take measures to force
rebels under its control to fall in line with the terms of the Syrian
ceasefire. As RT
reported,
numerous Russian appeals to the American side remain unanswered,
which “raises doubts over the US’s ability to influence
opposition groups under their control and their willingness to
further ensure the implementation of the Geneva agreements,” senior
Russian General Staff official, Viktor Poznikhir, said. Poznikhir
also said that the truce is being used by the militants to regroup,
resupply and prepare an offensive against government troops.
Last week, Moscow and
Washington agreed to influence the Syrian government and the
so-called moderate rebel forces respectively in order to establish a
ceasefire in the country "over
pizza and vodka."
We were skeptical, and for good reason: one week later it appears
that not only is the ceasefire over but a whole new phase in the war
may have broken out.
Russia has repeatedly
alleged that the US is failing to keep its part of the bargain. The
US, on its part, has blamed Russia for not pressuring Damascus enough
to facilitate humanitarian access to Syria.
Both allegations may now be moot if Russia decides to retaliate against members of the US-led coalition, or directly against US force
US-led
coalition aircraft strike Syrian army positions, kill 62 soldiers –
militaryBoth allegations may now be moot if Russia decides to retaliate against members of the US-led coalition, or directly against US force
RT,
17
September, 2016
Sixty-two Syrian
soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike by the
US-led coalition, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman,
Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said, citing information received
from the Syrian General Command.
There’s a possibility “that it’s a genuine mistake and the Americans in going after IS have gone after the Syrian military… because Dier ez-Zor city is under the Syrain Arab Army, but the rest of the districts are all under IS,” he said.
The CNN breaks silence
US-led
coalition jets have bombed Syrian government forces’ positions near
the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, killing 62 troops and "paving
the way" for Islamic State militants, the Syrian Army General
Command told the state television.
The
bombing took place on al-Tharda Mountain in the region of Deir ez-Zor
and caused casualties and destruction on the ground, Syria’s
official SANA news agency reported on Saturday.
The
Russian Defense Ministry said that the aircraft which carried out the
bombings had entered Syrian airspace from the territory of Iraq.
Four
strikes against Syrian positions was performed by two F-16 jet
fighters and two A-10 support aircraft, it dded.
“If
the airstrike was caused by the wrong coordinates of targets than
it’s a direct consequence of the stubborn unwillingness of the
American side to coordinate with Russia in its actions against
terrorist groups in Syria,” Konashenkov
stressed.
The
Defense Ministry also confirmed a report by SANA that an Islamic
State offensive began right after Syrian Army positions were hit from
the air.
"Immediately
after the airstrike by coalition planes, Islamic State militants
launched their offensive. Fierce fighting with the terrorists is
currently underway in the area of the airport where for a long a time
humanitarian aid for civilians was parachuted,” Konashenkov
said.
The
Syrian General Command has called the bombing a “serious
and blatant aggression”
against Syrian forces, and said it was "conclusive
evidence"
that the US and its allies support IS militants.
According
to a news
release of
the US Department of Defense, the coalition’s aviation performed
combat missions in Deir ez-Zor on Saturday.
“We
are aware of the reports and checking with Centcom and CJTF (Combined
Joint Task Force),” the
Pentagon told RT.
The
US Central Command later has issued a statement, saying that it had
no intention of targeting Syrian government forces near Deir ez-Zor.
“Syria
is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in
close proximity, but [the] coalition would not intentionally strike a
known Syrian military unit,” the
statement read.
CENTCOM
promised that the strike and circumstances surrounding it will be
reviewed “to
see if any lesson can be learned.”
An
unnamed US military official told Reuters that he was "pretty
sure" that
the targets hit in US-led coalition air strike on Saturday had been
Syrian forces.
According
to the official, the bombings in Deir ez-Zor were carried out using
US intelligence, which was being gathered for days.
The
US attack stopped as soon as Russia notified the American side that
they had been hitting the Syrian military, he dded.
Earlier
on Saturday, Russia accused the US of being reluctant to take
measures to force rebels under its control to fall in line with the
terms of the Syrian ceasefire.
Numerous
Russian appeals to the American side remain unanswered, which “raises
doubts over the US’s ability to influence opposition groups under
their control and their willingness to further ensure the
implementation of the Geneva agreements,”
senior Russian General Staff official, Viktor Poznikhir, said.
Poznikhir
also said that the truce is being used by the militants to regroup,
resupply and prepare an offensive against government troops.
Last
week, Moscow and Washington agreed to influence the Syrian government
and the so-called moderate rebel forces respectively in order to
establish a ceasefire in the country.
Since
then, Russia has repeatedly complained that the US is failing to keep
its part of the bargain. The US, on its part, has blamed Russia for
not pressuring Damascus enough to facilitate humanitarian access to
Syria.
Neither
a mistaken nor a deliberate strike can be ruled out, Kamal Alam from
the Royal United Service Institute, told RT when asked to comment on
the incident.
There’s a possibility “that it’s a genuine mistake and the Americans in going after IS have gone after the Syrian military… because Dier ez-Zor city is under the Syrain Arab Army, but the rest of the districts are all under IS,” he said.
But
it’s “a
lot more dangerous” if
the US had been “attacking
the Syrian military to make the moderates happy,” Alam stressed,
recalling recent reports of militants chasing the American Special
Forces, which Washington interpreted as a signed of diminishing
support from the Syrian opposition."
"NATO
and the United States should change their policy because the time
when they dictate their conditions to the world has passed,"
Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Dushanbe, capital of the Central
Asian republic of Tajikistan
Russian
Foreign Ministry: White House 'Defending the Islamic State'
Terrorists
Russia
says that the situation in Syria is worsening finding that the rebels
have intensified their attacks since the ceasefire came into force on
September 12 and laying the blame at the feet of Washington for
failing to crackdown on jihadists.
17
September, 2016
The
Russian Foreign Ministry issued a scathing response to the Obama
administration after a US Central Command statement suggested that
the US-led coalition had warned Russia prior to the airstrikes
against Syrian Army positions at Deir Ez-Zor that left some 62 Assad
regime soldiers dead.
The
statement by the Foreign ministry comes in the wake of accusations by
Russia that the United States has not been dealing in good faith in
the ceasefire agreement with Russian General Vladimir Savchenko
saying that "the situation is worsening" with rebel forces
escalating their attacks since the agreement went into force on
September 12.
"Russia is exterting all possible effort to
restrain Government troops from returning fire," Senior Army
General Viktor Poznikhir said.
The harsh response by Russia comes not
only after the United States attempted to flip the blame on Moscow
for the attack that killed 80 forces according to the SANA news
agency, but also after reports that Daesh terrorists engaged in a
major offensive right after the American airstrike crippled the Assad
regime's forces.
Speaking on Rossiya 24 Television the Rusisan
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: "If earlier
we had suspicions that the Nusra Front is protected this way, now,
after today's airstrikes on the Syrian army we come to a really
terrifying conclusion for the entire world: the White House is
defending IS [Islamic State or Daesh)."
The CNN breaks silence
The Russian briefing
Экстренный брифинг Минобороны РФ в связи с авиаударом сил коалиции по сирийским войскам
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