The US on Saturday said that its warplanes had carried out an airstrike in Syria that resulted in the deaths of Syrian government troops.
US military officials said that the pilots in the attack, in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, Syria, believed they were targeting the Islamic State (IS) group.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the US attack had killed 62 Syrian troops, wounded 100 more and opened the way for an IS offensive.
The episode comes at a time of escalating tensions in Syria. A partial ceasefire that started on Monday last week continues to steadily unravel after it was declared with much fanfare by the US and Russia.
A statement by US Central Command said that the planes stopped the attack after a warning from Russia that the strikes could be hitting Syrian troops.
A senior US administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the strike was still being investigated, said the US had relayed its regrets to the Syrian government through the Russians for the “unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces” fighting the IS.
Russia, the Syrian government’s main ally, said it would call an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the strikes.
The Syrian government insisted that the strike was not a mistake. Instead, the government said it was “a very serious and flagrant aggression” that aided the IS and proved its long-held assertion that the US supports the militant group as part of an effort to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“These attacks confirmed that the US clearly supports the terrorism of DAESH,” SAMA television, a state-run news outlet, said, using an Arabic acronym for the IS.
The channel quoted a statement issued by the Syrian military’s general command, which said the attack exposed “false claims of fighting terrorism” by the US.
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