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Coalition strike kills Syrian soldiers
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SYRIA’S cease-fire was hanging by a thread yesterday after tensions escalated between Moscow and Washington over a US-led coalition airstrike that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers battling jihadists.
The truce saw violence drop across the country for several days after it came into force last Monday, but fighting has since erupted on several fronts and besieged civilians are still waiting desperately for promised aid.
The cease-fire’s co-sponsors, Russia and the United States, have traded accusations over the fraying deal, with relations strained even further after the US-led raid killed scores of Syrian soldiers on Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 90 soldiers were killed in the strike. Moscow put the death toll at 62.
The Syrian army said the raid had allowed Islamic State group fighters to gain ground around the key eastern airbase of Deir Ezzor, but a military source said government forces were back on the offensive yesterday.
“The army has retaken most of its positions on Jabal Therdeh with Russian and Syrian air support,” the source said.
He was referring to hilltop positions that overlook the airbase. Retaking them is vital for the army to prevent IS using them to fire on aircraft taking off from or landing at the base.
The base and adjacent government-held neighborhoods of Deir Ezzor city have been under siege since 2012 and have been dependent on resupply by air.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Russian warplanes pounded IS positions around Deir Ezzor late on Saturday as clashes broke out between IS and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
At least 38 jihadist fighters were killed and clashes were ongoing.
Yesterday, the IS-linked Amaq news agency said IS shot down a Syrian warplane.
Abdel Rahman confirmed the attack and said the pilot was killed.
Hours after the coalition strike on Saturday, the Pentagon admitted US-led pilots may have hit Assad’s forces but said they “believed they were striking a Daesh (IS) fighting position.”
Its statement said an investigation was underway.
Australia, which said it was one of several coalition countries whose aircraft took part, offered its “condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded.”
Russia called an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Saturday to demand an explanation from the United States.
US ambassador Samantha Power said Washington regretted the loss of life, but that Moscow’s request for the meeting was “a stunt, replete with moralism and grandstanding.”
In an exchange reminiscent of Cold War-era verbal jousting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused the US of violating agreements that it would not target Syrian army positions.
He called the strike a “bad omen” for the US-Russian deal on halting a war which has left more than 300,000 people dead since it erupted in March 2011.
“These strikes endanger everything that has been done so far by the international community” to end the conflict, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
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