Syrian Army Claims U. S. Bombed Them In Support of ISIS (UPDATES)
Russia calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting
The Syrian army is claiming that the U. S. bombed them in support of ISIS, reportedly killing as many as 80 soldiers and wounding a hundred more.
Syria’s army general command said warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, paving the way for Islamic State fighters to overun it.
The air strike killed Syrian soldiers and was “conclusive evidence” that the U.S. and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement, noting that the strike was “dangerous and blatant aggression”.
The U.S.-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State since September 2014. In December Damascus accused the coalition of striking an army camp near Deir al-Zor, but Washington said it was done by Russian jets.
A strike list issued by the U.S. on Saturday said it had carried out a strike at Deir al-Zor against five Islamic State supply routes, as well as strikes near Raqqa and elsewhere in Syria.
Syria’s army controls Deir al-Zor airport and parts of the city which are otherwise entirely surrounded by territory held by Islamic State.
Reports are coming in that the U. S. is referring to the bombing of the Syrian army as unintentional.
JUST IN: The US military said a coalition airstrike may have unintentionally struck Syrian soldiers. https://t.co/NGAbrZCNr2
— CNN International (@cnni) September 17, 2016
There was a U. S. – Russia cease-fire agreement reached earlier this week, and within days, both were accusing the other of violations of that agreement.
Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier today questioned the U.S.’s commitment to the cease-fire agreement.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday questioned US commitment to the ceasefire established in Syria, suggesting Washington was not prepared to break with “terrorist elements” battling forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Syria’s army general command, meanwhile, said planes from the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State had bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport, state media reported.
The strike killed Syrian soldiers who had been preparing for an attack against Isis and was “conclusive evidence” that the US and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement. The Russian military said 62 Syrian soldiers were killed.
Dozens dead in Syria after US-led bombing strains tenuous truce https://t.co/D2gAW7dOcw
— CNBC International (@CNBCi) September 17, 2016
Latest: U.S. military says it halted an air raid against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria. https://t.co/XJgO0zCXA2
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 17, 2016
Latest: Russia calls for emergency session of UN Security Council over US air raid it says struck Syrian troops. https://t.co/3IBmGfLVkX
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 17, 2016
We will keep you updated as more news becomes available.
Updates:
https://twitter.com/worldstevo2000/status/777264138019938304
Russia, too, is claiming that the U. S. is supporting ISIS.
Maria Zakharova said the strikes, which the Russian Defense Ministry had said killed 62 Syrian soldiers, jeopardized a Russian-U.S. agreement on Syria and looked like evidence that Washington was helping Islamic State militants.
“We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world: That the White House is defending Islamic State. Now there can be no doubts about that,” the RIA Novosti news agency cited Zakharova as telling the Rossiya-24 TV station.
“We demand a full and detailed explanation from Washington. That explanation must be given at the UN Security Council,” she said.
The U. S. expresses “regret” over the bombing that killed Syrian soldiers.
The Obama administration expressed its “regret” Saturday for an airstrike that mistakenly killed Syrian forces, a senior administration official told Fox News, as the U.S. awaited a response from the Assad regime.
The U.S. military halted its air raid against the Islamic State terror group in eastern Syria after learning it struck the Syrian military, a U.S. Central Command official confirmed. The CENTCOM official said the U.S. military was “certain” about the outcome of the strike. Officials had been watching these forces “for a few days” thinking they were ISIS.
[Featured image via Twitter]
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Comments
Neither the Syrians nor ISIS could be considered our ally. I’ve been saying since they started there: If you bring enough bombs for one faction over there, you gotta bring enough for everybody.
The US military has admitted they bombed the wrong people by “mistake”.
With the politicization of the military under this pro-Isis administration, the only “mistake” is that they got caught following orders.
Whoops. We hit the wrong bad guys. Cry me a river.
The analysts and reporters get to hype up something that will make no difference in the scheme of the 100,000s dead in Syria for a few more eyeballs and profits. People think it’s only the defense companies that profit buts it’s not.
Finally Obama’s incompetence makes no difference – he hit the anti-Americans even when he missed the target.
Yeah, war is hell – and under Obama of no particular significance. Just a casual meaningless waste meant to manage the polls at home.
And let the Lord bless those who he wishes too in this mess, and let all the Americans make it home safely.
If we want those Americans to make it home safely, we have to use our heads. We’re not Muslims. We’re not all “Inshallah,” if allah wills it, and tossing up our hands as if it’s out of our control.
So, yeah, it would be nice if someone actually interested in the well being of those Americans this Obama administration has committed to battle was in charge. Unfortunately we don’t have that, and there’s a good chance we won’t for the foreseeable future.
And it makes me sick.
This was kinda sorta predictable as long as Preezy Red Lies is in office. It’s just the cost of doing business.
Are you not enjoying your fundamental transformation, peasants?
Obama invites this s***. Did anyone really expect Putin and Assad to ignore the invitation?
It’s ironic, isn’t it? I’m not going to argue that the ex-Soviet Spetsnaz or the other Russian equivalents aren’t effective. They are brutally effective. They don’t measure up to western special forces like our SEALs or Delta or the various British or commonwealth Special Air or Boat Services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Apiata
I’m of course going to throw in the IDF counter terror/hostage rescue teams and what may be surprising to some the Japanese Coast Guard SSTs or Special Security Teams that accompany shipments of nuclear fuel guarded by the Shikishima or Akitsushima cutters as well as the Special Boarding Teams or Special Boarding Units (depending on how you want to transliterate it) of the JMSDF.
The Russians and the the rest of the third world define success in preventing the hostage takers from escaping and preventing casualties among their own forces. Americans, dedicated European allies, the Anglosphere, the IDF, and believe it or not the Japanese define success as not letting the hostage takers escape, preventing casualties among own forces, AND not letting a hostage die or killing them. These forces simply don’t have the f*** the hostages attitude Spetsnaz displayed at the Moscow theater.
This takes time and money. Ammo is expensive, but it you don’t want to bleed in war you have to expend it in training.
Now these third worlders are accusing us of being overly promiscuous in the use of explosives.
Yeah, I’ll get right on it.
The Obama administration lost credibility after revelations of the Libya-ISIS Affair.
Watch your back at the UN. Ban Ki-moon is a proponent of Obama and Clinton’s progressive wars, if not actually their refugee crises.