Moscow denies strikes on U.S.-backed rebels in Syria

“The Russian government either doesn’t have control of its own forces or it was a deliberate provocative act”. The fighter, who goes by the name Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajer, confirmed that the militants have captured the villages. “Too many people are dying”. The U.S. accused Moscow of failing to prevent violations by Assad’s forces, while Russian Federation criticized the U.S. for its failure to encourage opposition groups it backed to pull out from areas controlled by Nusra.

“The Russian Aerospace Force acted in the framework of the agreed procedures, having notified in advance members of the US -led coalition about the ground targets for the strikes”.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, . The jets dropped what is believed to be the equivalent of USA 500-pound bombs and possibly cluster munitions, according to the US defense official.

Russian warplanes hit Pentagon-backed Syrian fighters with a barrage of airstrikes earlier this week, disregarding several warnings from USA commanders in what American military officials called the most provocative act since Moscow’s air campaign in Syria began a year ago.

Russia’s defense ministry said late Thursday however that it had not carried out any strikes targeting opposition forces included in the ceasefire, without mentioning Al-Tanaf – an assertion challenged by the United States.

The videoconference was held as part of bilateral communications channels meant to prevent encounters in the crowded skies over Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said warplanes had struck a meeting of USA -backed forces fighting against Islamic State in al-Tanf village, near the al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq, killing two fighters and wounding four.

The document – sent through the State Department’s “dissent channel”, a conduit for voicing contrary opinions meant to be confidential – underscored long-standing divisions and frustrations among Obama’s aides over his response to Syria’s five-year-old civil war. About 180 rebels were there as part of the Pentagon’s program to train and equip fighters against Islamic State.

The US military launched a $500 million program in early 2015 to train entire units of “moderate” Syrians to fight Islamic State jihadists.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met Saturday with the Russian defense minister in Damascus, while US and Russian military officials held separate talks about Russia’s attack on USA -backed Syrian rebel forces this week.

Russia, which has been providing air cover and airstrikes for the Syrian government forces since September, announced on June 15 that a regime of calm had been introduced in Aleppo “with the goal of lowering the level of armed violence and stabilizing the situation”.

On Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Syria to meet Assad and inspect the Russian air base there.

The Defense Ministry said the talks focused on cooperation between the two countries and “some aspects of cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups”. A political process is the only way to reach peace, Putin said, stressing that Syrian President Bashar Assad “also agrees to such a process”.

Meanwhile the Russian defense ministry announced last week that they had air dropped 18 tons of humanitarian supplies into the besieged city of Deir Ezzor.

A US – and Russian- brokered cease-fire that began on February 27 has helped reduce hostilities, but fierce fighting has continued in many areas.