THE UNITED States air strike on Deir Ez-zor on Saturday, which killed 62 Syrian soldiers, means the US has lost control over the situation in Syria and cannot fulfill its pledge to separate between opposition and terrorists, Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin said yesterday.
‘Firstly, they violated commitments to cease fire which were agreed together with us in February and reaffirmed in the last days,’ Churkin warned. Secondly, they violated their commitment to the government of Syria which they gave when launching their air operation in the Syrian sky. They promised the Syrian government then that they will not deliver airstrikes at Syrian government forces,’ Churkin said.
‘The US explanation that the airstrikes were not deliberate sound strange,’ he added: ”It is very strange to believe that it was a coincidence. The time (of the airstrike), as well as other aspects of the situation, point to the possibility that it might have been a provocation,’ he stressed.
The US expressed ‘regret’ for what it claimed was an ‘unintentional loss of life’. The air attack caused a bitter row between the US and Russia at the United Nations Security Council on Saturday night, with each country’s representatives walking out while the other was speaking.
US envoy Samantha Power criticised Russia for calling an emergency meeting of the council, which she claimed was ‘cynical and hypocritical’. ‘Russia really needs to stop the cheap points-scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts,’ she told reporters.
Churkin said he had never seen ‘such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness’ as shown by Power. ‘If what Ambassador Power has done today is any indication of their possible reaction then we are in serious trouble,’ Churkin said.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said that the attack showed ‘that the White House is defending Islamic State’. Syria’s foreign ministry said the attack was ‘planned and deliberate’ and suggested ‘pre-coordination between IS and the US forces’.
Syrian forces have now regained control of the areas they lost to IS fighters as a result of the strikes, state news agency Sana reports. Russia’s military had already expressed fears for the ceasefire, saying that the so-called moderate rebel groups have increased attacks and it urged the US to act or be responsible for the collapse of the truce.
