Russia’s Bombing US-Backed Rebels Fighting ISIS In Southern Syria

Russian warplanes had previously shadowed planes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition over Syria, but the coalition always described the Russians’ behavior as “professional”.

Following the attack, the Pentagon said the militants had been engaged in “counter-ISIL operations in the area” near al-Tanf on the Syrian side of the Jordan border.

More than 40 people were also wounded in the attack on the Sheikh Maqsoud area, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, a district next to the only way in and out of rebel-held parts of the northern city, the Castello road.

The military has deployed the powerful long-range missiles after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane at the Syrian border last November, vowing to fend off any threat to its aircraft.

US and Russian jets had a bit of a close call over the skies of southern Syria.

It said Shoigu held talks with Assad on orders from President Vladimir Putin. “Pilots CAN communicate with one another on a communications channel set up to avoid air accidents”, Central Command confirmed in a statement to The Daily Beast.

It is not clear how may fighters died in the airstrikes, but they are believed to have been trained by the US CIA and are fighting Islamic State in the At Tanf region just inside Syria.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said: “Department officials conveyed that Russia’s continued strikes, even after US attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of on-going coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for USA and coalition forces”.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj.

Russian Federation rejected USA criticism of air strikes it conducted in the south of Syria, which the Pentagon says hit American-supported rebels fighting the Islamic State, in an incident that has deepened divisions between the two powers.

The Pentagon said on Saturday that it had questioned Moscow after Russian Federation conducted air strikes against US-backed Syrian opposition forces last week, accusing Moscow of failing to heed USA warnings. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the area targeted in the strike was more than 300 kilometers away from locations earlier designated by the U.S.as controlled by legitimate opposition forces.

Unlike other opposition groups, the New Syrian Army only fights against IS and does not target Assad’s forces.