Russia: US forces killed Syrian soldiers
September 17, 2016, 6:58 pm

The Syrian army said its soldiers were about to attack an Islamic State position when they were struck by US fire [Xinhua]

Early reports said that US F-16 fighter jets and A-10 tank busters attacked a Syrian army contingent at Jebel Tharda and killed 30 soldiers.

But Major General Igor Konashenkov from the Kremlin said that these fighter planes carried out a total of four sorties against the Syrian army and killed at least 62 soldiers.

He said in a statement carried by the TASS Russian news agency that more than 100 were also wounded.

For its part, the Syrian Army said that its soldiers had been preparing to attack an Islamic State position when they were fired on by US forces. A Syrian military statement said that the attack proves Washington backs the Islamic State.

There has been no comment at press time from the Pentagon. However, Russian media reported that the Pentagon responded to a query about the attack saying they were checking with Centcom to confirm the reports.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the US to publish a written copy of the ceasefire agreement in order to hold to account those factions which fail to abide by its tenets.

He said Washington’s refusal to publish the agreement indicated that it was not seriously committed to the cessation of hostilities.

During a trip to Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, Putin also criticized the US for failing to “separate the so-called healthy part of the opposition from the half-criminal and terrorist elements” – a central aspect of the deal reached between the Moscow and Washington last week.

Russian military observers near the besieged city of Aleppo said they had so far recorded 199 violations from the Islamist rebels supported by the US. They said they feared a collapse of the ceasefire as the rebel groups regroup and increase their attacks on government positions.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies