Syria claims strike reveals US’s motives

SYRIA and Russia yesterday condemned a USled coalition strike on pro-government forces.

US-led warplanes carried out Thursday’s strike in the east of the country against a convoy of pro-government forces headed towards a remote coalition garrison near the border with Jordan.

“On Thursday at 16:30 [4.30pm], the so-called international coalition attacked one of the Syrian Arab Army’s positions on the Al-Tanf road in the Syrian Badia region, producing a number of martyrs and causing material damage,” a Syrian military source told state media.

“This brazen attack by the so-called international coalition exposes the falseness of its claims to be fighting terrorism,” it added.

“The Syrian Arab Army is fighting terrorism on its territory, and no party has the right to determine the course of its operations.

“The Syrian Arab Army will . . . not be intimidated by the attempts of the so-called coalition to stop it from performing its sacred duties.”

In a statement, the USled coalition said it had struck “pro-regime forces . . . that posed a threat to US and partner forces”.

The coalition said the strike came after unsuccessful “Russian attempts to dissuade Syrian pro-regime movement” as well as “a coalition aircraft show of force, and the firing of warning shots”.

Syrian state media gave no precise toll in the attack, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, reported eight killed.

An array of regular and irregular forces are battling alongside the government against rebels, including Russian and Iranian soldiers, and militants Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

President Bashar alAssad’s army is trying to prevent US-backed forces from leading that fight. — AFP