ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrian reports said Saturday that warplanes of the US-led coalition bombed Syrian regime positions around Deir Ezzor airport, “causing losses in lives and equipment.”
“US alliance aircrafts targeted at 5 PM on Saturday a Syrian Arab Army position in al-Tharda Mountain in the surroundings of Deir Ezzor Airport, causing losses in lives and equipment,” the official SANA news agency said.
“This act is a serious and blatant aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic and its army, and constitutes conclusive evidence that the United States and its allies support ISIS and other terrorist organizations,” SANA quoted a Syrian military statement as saying.
“This act reveals the falseness of their claims of fighting terrorism,” it added.
There was no independent confirmation of the SANA report and no immediate reaction from the US-led coalition.
The UK-based Syrian observatory for Human Rights confirmed an attack, but said could not verify whether coalition warplanes were involved or if Russian aircraft that have been operating in the vicinity had carried out the attack. The observatory said 30 Syrian army personnel were killed, citing Syrian military officials at the airport.
Russia’s official RT news website said the planes were coalition aircraft that had crossed over from Iraq.
“Sixty-two Syrian soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike by the US-led coalition,” it quoted Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov as saying, citing information from the Syrian General Command.
“The aircraft which carried out the bombings had entered Syrian airspace from the territory of Iraq. The airstrike against Syrian positions was performed by two F-16 jet fighters and two A-10 support aircraft,” RT quoted the defense ministry in Moscow as saying.
A 48-hour ceasefire agreed by Russia and the United States that came into force on Monday evening and was extended for another two days on Wednesday looked increasingly shaky on Saturday as the two sides traded accusations over the fragile truce.
