Syria: Russia denies airstrike that wounded six US-backed fighters
The Russian military denied claims on Sunday that it struck a US-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.
The Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday that its fighters had been hit in the airstrike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that had recently been liberated from the Islamic State group.
The Russian defence ministry spokesman, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, said: “Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS [Isis] targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels.”
The command of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement that Saturday’s air raid occurred on the eastern side of the Euphrates iver in the industrial area that was recently liberated from Isis.
The US military said in a statement that Russian forces struck a target east of the Euphrates river near Deir el-Zour, causing injuries to US-led coalition partner forces.
Western forces embedded with the SDF were not injured, the US military said. The SDF is supported by a US-led international coalition of forces to defeat Isis militants in Syria and Iraq. An estimated 900 US troops are embedded with partner forces in Syria. They provide artillery support and can command air support.
“Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers,” the statement said, adding that the wounded SDF fighters received medical care following the strike.
It said that multinational coalition troops advising and assisting the SDF were present but not wounded as a result of the Russian strike.
“Coalition officials are available and the de-confliction line with Russia is open 24 hours per day,” said coalition commander Lt Gen Paul E Funk. “We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that share Isis as our common enemy.”
“The coalition and its partners remain committed to the defeat of Isis and continued de-confliction with Russian officials,” the statement said. “Coalition forces and partners always retain the right of self-defence.”
SDF fighters have been advancing against Isis fighters on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side.
The march by the SDF aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.
The air raid came as Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies began a new offensive dubbed Fajr 3, or Dawn 3, that aims to capture areas along the border with Iraq in southeast Syria under the cover of Russian airstrikes, according to a statement by the commander of Iran-backed fighters.
The statement of the unnamed commander was released on media arms of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which is a main force fighting alongside Syrian troops.
The commander said Syrian troops along with fighters from Hezbollah, Afghanistan’s Fatimiyoun, Pakistan’s Zeinabiyoun and Iranian fighters will take part in the offensive, which aims to reach the Syrian border town of Boukamal, an Isis stronghold.
“The aim is to clear this wide and strategic area from the filth of Daesh fighters,” the commander said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to Isis. The eventual capture of the area all the way to Boukamal would boost Iran’s influence in the region. Iran has succeeded in opening a narrow corridor linking areas controlled by its allies in Iraq and Syria all the way to the Mediterranean.
Washington has been determined to block the formation of an “Iranian corridor” of Shiite-controlled land stretching from Tehran to Damascus and has sped up the push by the SDF in Deir el-Zour to try to block the road against Iran and its allies.
The announcement about the offensive in Syria came hours after an Iraqi military commander said troops have launched a multipronged operation to capture a town near the Syrian border from Isis.
Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said the operation to retake Akashat aims to secure part of the border and the area north of the vital highway that links Baghdad to neighbouring Jordan and Syria.
Akashat is a small town west of Anbar province located south of the Isis-held, strategic Iraqi towns of Qaim, Rawa and Ana.