US denies it was responsible for attack on Syrian forces

The United States is “certain” that it was a Russian air strike that killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded 13 others in Deir ez-Zor on Sunday.

A senior US military official said it was not a coalition strike, but Syria’s government has accused the US-led alliance of bombing the army camp and hitting troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The city of Deir ez-Zor, where the air strikes are said to have been carried out on Sunday, is mainly held by the Islamic State group, but the Syrian government maintains a presence in some parts of it.

A US-led coalition has been striking at Islamic State targets in Syria for the past year. France and the United Kingdom have recently joined in and have carried out air strikes of their own in Syria.

In a letter sent to the United Nations and published in Syrian state media, the government in Damascus said four aircraft belonging to the US-led coalition targeted the army camp in the eastern city.

In addition to the casualties, it said the attack destroyed armoured and other vehicles and a weapons and ammunition depot.

“This hampers efforts to combat terrorism and proves once again that this coalition lacks seriousness and credibility to effectively fight terrorism,” the Syrian letter said.

Since the end of September, Russian aircraft have also assaulted the Islamic State group, also known as Isis, and other insurgents in Syria fighting to topple Assad.

On Sunday, air strikes hit several Islamic State positions in its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria, killing and wounding at least 32 Islamic State fighters according to several anti-Isis activists. Islamic State media accused the Russians of being behind those attacks and claimed civilians were killed.