US says halt to strike that hit likely Syrian troops delayed

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday U.S. jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four air strikes by two F-16s and two A-10s coming from the direction of Iraq.

However, that communication was tested after USA and coalition aircraft struck what Russian Federation and Syria claim was a Syrian military site, killing 62 and wounding about a 100 more.

A U.S. Central Command official says the coalition monitored a target in Syria for two days and deemed it valid before launching the airstrikes that Russian Federation says hit and killed Syrian government troops Saturday.

If the USA had been honest about its claims on counterterrorism, it would not have attacked the positions of the Syrian troops, the Iranian parliamentarian stated.

Australian, Danish and U.S. air forces were also involved in the raid.

The U.S. military appeared to agree.

“The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units”, it added, declining to comment further.

Speaking at a conference in Washington Tuesday, another top USA military official said that any cooperation with the Russians is off, at least for the time being. The aircraft then pursued fleeing troops into the open desert and strafed them, the Times said.

British forces took part in a coalition air strike which the Syrian government claimed killed dozens of its troops, threatening the country’s fragile ceasefire, the Ministry of Defence has said.

“The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military”, CentCom said.

The Syrian military said the coalition aircraft had hit a base which was surrounded by IS – enabling the militants to overrun their positions.

The US has said it told Russia – Syria’s military allies – that it planned to bomb in the area in a process known as “deconfliction”, though Fairfax Media understands this process is often rudimentary.

But U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power also accused Russian Federation of staging a “stunt” by failing to express outrage at earlier accidental airstrikes perpetrated by Syrian regime forces. “I would suggest it was not accidental”.