Dozens of Civilians Killed in Airstrike on Deir Ezzor
Dozens of civilians trying to escape the fighting in Deir Ezzor province were killed on Wednesday by airstrikes that targeted their ferries as they tried to cross the Euphrates River.
According to Reuters, at least 60 civilians were killed in the attack. Citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Agence France-Presse put the death toll at 38, including 9 children. Differing death tolls are common in the Syrian conflict.
Military jets believed to be Russian carried out two rounds of airstrikes. The first wave of strikes targeted families who were trying to flee the town of al-Ashara on the western banks of the Euphrates using boats and makeshift rubber dinghies.
“Russian jets staged a second wave of strikes on the boats that were fleeing across the river causing more casualties among those who rushed to rescue earlier survivors,” a tribal figure in northern Syria who is in contact with relatives in the area told Reuters.
Russia has been carrying out an intense aerial campaign in the region in recent months in support of the Syrian government’s offensive on the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in the province.
Russia Accuses U.S. of Supporting ISIS in Syria
On Wednesday Russia accused the U.S. of supporting the so-called Islamic State and preventing the defeat of the jihadi group in Syria, Reuters reported.
“The main obstacle to completing the defeat of Islamic State in Syria is not the military capability of the terrorists but the support for them, and flirtation with them, by the United States,” Russian defense ministry spokesperson, Major General Igor Konashenkov, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
To support its claims against the U.S., Russia’s defense ministry said that recent attacks by ISIS on pro-government forces along the Deir Ezzor-Palmyra highway had been launched from a deconfliction zone near the border with Jordan, where a U.S. garrison was located.
Moscow warned that its air force was ready to strike areas around the deconfliction zone around the al-Tanf base to prevent further attacks.
That same day, pro-government forces made an incursion into the 34-mile (55km) deconfliction zone, CNN reported.
Citing a U.S. coalition spokesperson, CNN said that pro-government forces later withdrew from the zone after U.S. forces used a pre-established deconfliction hotline with Russia to communicate the intrusion.
Speaking to CNN, U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon denied Russia’s accusations and said that the coalition’s goal was to “kill ISIS or compel them to surrender,” and not to negotiate with the extremist group.
OPCW: Sarin Used in March Attack
A chemical watchdog said on Wednesday that it had collected evidence that sarin nerve agent was used in an attack in opposition-held northern Syria in late March, five days before a major chemical attack struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun.
“Analysis of samples collected (by the OPCW) … relates to an incident that took place again in the northern part of Syria on the 30th of March this year,” the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told Agence France-Presse in an interview. “The results prove the existence of sarin,” Ahmet Uzumcu said.
The attack on the opposition-held village of Latamneh, some 15 miles (25km) south of Khan Sheikhoun, reportedly wounded 50 people, according to Uzumcu. He said there were no immediate reports of any deaths.
These findings disprove the claim that the April attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, which killed at least 87 people, was the first time sarin was used since the 2013 gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus.
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