Denmark Says Its Jets Took Part in Syria Strike

Hours after the coalition strike, the Pentagon admitted US-led pilots may have hit Assad’s forces but said that they “believed they were striking a Daesh fighting position”. But a week after it began, desperate populations in besieged areas have yet to receive this aid, which has been held up on the Turkish border as humanitarian agencies await guarantees of safety from the warring parties. The U.N. said the Syrian government has obstructed the delivery of aid, a key component of the deal.

Also Monday, the opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12. The al-Rahman Legion, part of a Free Syrian Army rebel alliance, said its fighters had destroyed a government tank and killed soldiers after government forces tried to storm Jobar for the second time this week. Aleppo’s governor Hussein Diab, asked the insurgents in the eastern neighbourhoods to surrender themselves and take advantage of an Amnesty deal recently announced by Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow put the blame for Sunday’s violence on the opposition.

A frame grab taken from footage released by Russia’s Defence Ministry October 9, 2015, shows a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber dropping a bomb in the air over Syria.

“A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor”, Amaq said in an online statement.

Konashenkov says Moscow still has not been able to contact the US-backed opposition to coordinate cease-fire efforts despite Washington’s assurances. He says the US has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire.

Kerry said Assad was a “spoiler” in the cease-fire, and called on Moscow to “stop the grandstanding, stop the showboating, and get the humanitarian assistance going”. Kerry called Saturday’s incident a “terrible thing. that we all acknowledge and regret”.

Washington hopes it will lead to talks on ending a war that has splintered Syria, uprooting 11 million people and creating the world’s worst refugee crisis.

United States and Russian officers met Monday in Geneva, but the defense ministry in Moscow said it would be “pointless” to continue the truce in the face of rebel violations.

The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the USA -led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour.

She also refused to be drawn on the question of whether Australia played a leading role, and what type of Australian planes were involved. Defense Minister Marise Payne told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that Australia is taking part in a USA review of the airstrikes.

“You’ll find over the next little while, no doubt, arguments or issues about why there wasn’t more co-ordination or who was meant to be advising who”, Mr Turnbull told reporters in NY, where he is attending the annual United Nations General Assembly.

Senator Payne also said the blunder would not deter Australia in the longer term from continuing the fight against the Islamic State.

Australia will continue conducting air strikes in Syria despite being involved in a botched operation that killed almost 100 Syrian soldiers, Defence Minister Marise Payne has confirmed.

The strikes, which were abandoned when Russian forces notified the Americans, have increased tensions in a complex conflict. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group.

Russian Federation said the United States was being obstructive and deceptive regarding the airstrike. A statement by the Syrian foreign ministry says its units have been continuously attacked in strikes that were “on objective and planned in advance”.

Ansari said Tehran will “give all possible support” to Syria in its war against terrorism.

“I don’t want to explore different scenarios until we are certain, that we have even hit Syrian soldiers”, Minister of Defence Peter Christensen told local news agency Ritzau.

Hopes the ceasefire would allow aid to reach besieged areas in Eastern Aleppo have diminished.

The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

Tens of thousands of people live in government-held neighborhoods of Deir el-Zour under an IS siege.

The Syrian government and its allies have mostly focused their firepower on western areas of the country that are of greatest significance to Assad, including the main cities of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia, Tartous and Aleppo.

Also Sunday, the Syrian government and opposition reported violations of the cease-fire that went into effect on Monday.

The truce excludes IS and al-Qaida-linked militants.