Image copyright AP Image caption Fighters of so-called Islamic State in Deir al-Zour, where they have been battling Syrian troops

The US-led coalition has admitted its planes carried out an attack in eastern Syria that the Russian army says killed at least 62 Syrian troops fighting IS.

The US said its planes had halted the attack in Deir al-Zour when informed of the Syrian presence.

A spokesman for the US administration expressed "regret" for the "unintentional loss of life".

The attack caused a bitter row between the US and Russia at the United Nations Security Council.

US envoy Samantha Power accused Russia of "pulling a stunt" by calling an emergency meeting of the council.

Her opposite number, Vitaliy Churkin, said he had never seen "such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness" as shown by Ms Power.

The Russians earlier said the current ceasefire in Syria was in danger of collapse and the US would be to blame.

The cessation of hostilities does not include attacks by the US on IS or other jihadist groups.

The US Central Command statement said the coalition believed it was attacking positions of so-called Islamic State and the raids were "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".

It said the "Combined Air Operations Center had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike".

It added: "Syria is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in close proximity, but coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit. The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned."

Russia's defence ministry earlier said that if the US air strikes did turn out to be an error, it would be because of Washington's refusal to co-ordinate military action with Moscow.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Numerous ceasefire breaches by Syrian government troops and rebel groups have been reported

Only if the current ceasefire - which began on Monday - holds for seven days, will the US and Russia begin co-ordinated action against the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, which was previously known as the al-Nusra Front, and IS.

The Russian defence ministry quoted a statement by Syrian army general command as saying that the four coalition air strikes on Syrian troops had allowed IS to advance.

The Russian foreign ministry said the attack had jeopardised the US-Russia agreement on Syria.

The Syrian statement said that the air strikes were "conclusive evidence" that the US and its allies supported the jihadist group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at at least 80.

There have been no confirmed cases of US air strikes targeting Syrian troops. Last December, Syria accused the coalition of attacking a government army camp in Deir al-Zour but the US denied it.

'Repeated messages'

Earlier, Russia's military expressed fears for the ceasefire. It said rebel groups had increased attacks and it urged the US to act or be responsible for the collapse of the truce.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Syrian family living in cemetery in Eastern Aleppo

Russian General Vladimir Savchenko said "the situation in Syria is worsening", with 55 rebel attacks over the past 24 hours, leading to the deaths of 12 civilians.

Gen Viktor Poznikhir said Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, was doing all it could to rein in Syrian troops.

"If the American side does not take the necessary measures to carry out its obligations... a breakdown of the ceasefire will be on the United States," he said.

"The United States and the so-called moderate groups they control have not met a single obligation they assumed in the framework of the Geneva agreement."

The terms require moderate rebel groups to separate themselves from jihadists.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage appears to show Free Syrian Army rebels chasing US special forces out of the northern Syrian town of Al-Rai

Gen Poznikhir said: "Our repeated messages to the American side are left without a response. There is doubt that the US is able to influence the moderate opposition they control."

A US National Security Council spokesman later said: "While there have been challenges on both sides, violence is considerably lower and the cessation is broadly holding.

"What we're not seeing is humanitarian aid getting through and it will be hard to build confidence on the ground until that occurs."

Some 20 trucks have been waiting since Monday for safe passage from Turkey into Syria and on to rebel-held east Aleppo.

Truce's days may be numbered - BBC's James Longman, Beirut

This was meant to be a trust-building exercise, but nearly a week after the truce began, the blame game has begun.

There was deep scepticism from the rebels about details in the plan which called for their separation from extremist groups. That is why they never formally accepted the deal.

It was always a major sticking point. Were US backed groups supposed to surrender territory to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham? Or were they required to fight them? It was never clear. Either way, the stipulation would leave them far weaker on the battlefield. But refusing and standing in the way of much-needed humanitarian aid would not have been popular.

Now this weekend, the main rebel groups are due to meet to discuss their position. Their mistrust of the government and its Russian allies runs deep. They see the obstruction of aid deliveries on the border as a stalling tactic, and one which they have seen before.

If aid doesn't reach besieged areas soon, the ceasefire's days are numbered. And co-ordinated strikes against IS won't happen.</s>"A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed.

The Observatory said the plane came down in the Jebel Tharda area which overlooks the government's Deir al Zor military airport.

Jebel Tharda is where on Saturday U.S.-led coalition air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated.

The city's airport and some government-held districts have been entirely surrounded by Islamic State since last year, with the airport providing the only external access.

Intense air strikes over the past 24 hours have hit Islamic State controlled areas near Deir al Zor city, the Observatory and Syrian state media said.</s>Syrians walk through the rubble following an air strike on the regime-controlled neighbourdhood of Karm Al Jabal on Sunday (AFP photo)

MOSCOW/BEIRUT — Moscow stepped up its war of words with Washington on Sunday, saying air strikes by a US-led coalition on the Syrian army threatened the implementation of a US-Russian ceasefire plan for Syria and bordered on connivance with Daesh.

The diplomatic row heated up on the last day of a seven-day ceasefire marred by a surge of violence as warplanes hit the strategic northern city of Aleppo for the first time since the truce came into effect.

On Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said US jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor in four air strikes by two F-16 and two A-10 fighter jets coming from the direction of Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group with contacts across Syria, cited a military source at Deir Ezzor airport as saying at least 90 Syrian soldiers had been killed.

Russia's foreign ministry denounced the US position on the incident as "unconstructive and inarticulate".

"The actions of coalition pilots — if they, as we hope, were not taken on an order from Washington — are on the boundary between criminal negligence and connivance with Islamic State [Daesh] terrorists," it said in a strongly worded statement.

"We strongly urge Washington to exert the needed pressure on the illegal armed groups under its patronage to implement the ceasefire plan unconditionally. Otherwise the implementation of the entire package of the US-Russian accords reached in Geneva on September 9 may be jeopardised."

Russia, which along with Iran supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, has called on the United States to press units of the moderate Syrian opposition to separate themselves from Daeshand other "terrorist groups".

Iran also condemned the US military action. "Such moves indicate America supports terrorist groups in Syria," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to Iranian news agencies.

The US military said the coalition stopped the attacks against what it believed to be Daesh positions in northeast Syria after Russia informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit.

"The White House is defending Daesh. Now there can be no doubts about that," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in comments aired by state TV.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said Zakharova should be embarrassed by that claim. Russia’s UN representative Vitaly Churkin said Russia had no “specific evidence” of the US colluding with Daesh militants.

The diplomatic row should further complicate humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria, including its largest pre-war city Aleppo where the fragile truce has been repeatedly violated.

The UN told Reuters that aid trucks that had been due to move to Aleppo on Sunday morning were once again being delayed.

Russia’s defence ministry said conditions in Syria were deteriorating as fighting escalated in parts of the country where the ceasefire, set to expire late on Sunday, should apply.

Aleppo was hit by air strikes for the first time since the truce began. Moscow said militants there were preparing for large-scale military actions against Syria’s army.

Heavy clashes continued on Sunday east of Damascus in the rebel-held Jobar suburb, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a witness said.

The Al Rahman Legion, part of a Free Syrian Army rebel alliance there, said its fighters had destroyed a government tank and killed soldiers after government forces tried to storm Jobar for the second time this week.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, at least eight people died and many were seriously injured when helicopters dropped barrel bombs onto a town in a rebel-held part of the southern Syrian province of Daraa on Sunday.

Insurgents say they only reluctantly accepted the initial deal to relieve the dire humanitarian situation in besieged areas they control, and blamed Russia for undermining the truce.

“The truce ... will not hold out,” a senior rebel official in Aleppo said.

Rebels have also accused Russia of using the ceasefire to give the Syrian army and allied Shiite militias a chance to regroup and deploy forces ready for their own offensives.

Daesh is excluded from the truce. Separate US-led, Damascus-led and Turkey-backed operations against the militants have continued throughout the ceasefire on various fronts.

One Turkish soldier and six Syrian rebels were wounded on Sunday in clashes with Daesh near the Syrian border town of Al Rai as Turkey-backed Syrian rebels pushed south towards the Daesh-held town of Al Bab, Turkey’s Dogan News agency reported.

Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad rebel group, said the rebels had advanced south and west of Al Rai but could not say when they might reach Al Bab. “Yesterday we took two villages only, today five,” he told Reuters.

Turkey hit Daesh targets within Syria with warplanes, according to Dogan, Osman and the observatory.

On Sunday, Daesh said it had shot down a warplane in Deir Ezzor with “anti-aircraft” guns, in the same area as the US-led coalition strikes hit the Syrian military on Saturday.

The Syrian military confirmed the loss of a warplane it said was carrying out an operation against rebels.</s>Australia has said its warplanes took part in US-led air strikes in eastern Syria that mistakenly killed Syrian army troops in an incident threatening to wreck an already tenuous ceasefire before it is a week old.

Russia’s military said it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 soldiers were killed in the attack on a government position near Deir ez-Zour, with more than 100 wounded. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 90 soldiers were killed.

The first air strikes on Aleppo since the ceasefire began last Monday evening were reported on Sunday.

An Australian defence department statement said its jets had targeted fighters they thought to be members of Islamic State, the jihadist faction also known as Isis.

“Overnight, coalition aircraft were conducting air strikes in eastern Syria against what was believed to be a Daesh [Islamic State] fighting position that the coalition had been tracking for some time,” the statement said.

“However, shortly after the bombing commenced, Russian officials advised the Combined Air Operations Centre that the targets may have been Syrian military personnel.

“While Syria remains a dynamic and complex operating environment, Australia would never intentionally target a known Syrian military unit or actively support [Islamic State],” it said, offering condolences to the families of the dead and pledging to co-operate with a US inquiry.

The US has also offered condolences and insisted the air strikes were a mistake. It said it had targeted Tharda mountain where a Syrian government offensive was seeking to capture Islamic State positions overlooking the Deir ez-Zour military airport.

Damascus claimed it had succeeded in taking Tharda despite the US bombing, and rejected Washington’s insistence that it hit Syrian troops in error. A foreign ministry statement said Syrian positions had been repeatedly attacked in strikes that were “on purpose and planned in advance”.

Russia warned that the incident puts a “very big question mark” over the future of a precarious ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow, and a strongly worded foreign ministry statement on Sunday said the strikes were “on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance with Islamic State terrorists”.

It said the incident was a result of Washington’s “stubborn refusal” to co-operate with Moscow in fighting Isis, the al-Nusra Front – now renamed Jabhat Fateh al Sham – and “other terrorist groups”.</s>The UN Security Council will hold urgent consultations on Saturday after US-led coalition air strikes hit Syrian military positions, diplomats said.

Russia requested the meeting, which is set to take place from 7:30 pm (2330 GMT).

"We demand Washington's full and detailed explanation, and that must be made before the UN Security Council," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow.

Russia is "very concerned" by the strikes that "directly targeted the Syrian army, which has been consistently fighting the Islamic State group's forces", she added.

The bombing hit an army position in the east, near the IS-controlled town of Deir Ezzor, a Russian army statement said.

At least 62 soldiers were killed in the strike, according to Russian officials and a Syrian monitoring group.

"These strikes endanger everything that has been done so far by the international community" to reach peace in Syria, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

Zakharova accused the United States of being "simply incapable of honoring its commitment" to distinguish between jihadists and Syrian mainstream rebels in the implementation of a ceasefire in force since Monday.</s>US-led coalition aircraft hit a Syrian army position in the country's east on Saturday, according to an armed forces statement carried by the state news agency SANA.

"Warplanes from the American coalition hit one of the Syrian army's positions... near the Deir Ezzor airport," the statement said, adding that there were "casualties" but without giving a number.

The Russian army said 60 Syrian soldiers were killed in US-led coalition strikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 30 soldiers were killed in the raids, but could not specify who carried them out.

Syria's army has been fighting off a fierce offensive by the Islamic State jihadist group on the Deir Ezzor military airport since last year.

"This is a dangerous and bold attack against the Syrian state and army, and clear evidence that the United States and its allies support the terrorist group Daesh," the statement said, referring to IS.

A Syrian military source also told AFP that US-led coalition strikes hit an army position in Jabal Therdeh, near Deir Ezzor military airport.

Under a fragile truce deal negotiated by the United States and Russia, fighting in Syria is to halt on all fronts across the country except those held by IS.

The US-led coalition has been carrying out raids against IS for two years in both Syria and Iraq.</s>A senior adviser to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad said that the US airstrike on Syrian Army positions in Deir Ezzor was preplanned.

President Assad’s Political and media adviser Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban told RT, “None of the facts on the ground show that what happened was a mistake or a coincidence.”

US-led coalition jets bombed Syrian government forces’ positions near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, killing troops and “paving the way” for ISIS militants to launch their offensive, according to Syria’s official news agency

Shaaban said: “The moment the American planes struck the Syrian army, the terrorists came from the same side that the Americans struck, and occupied the place [that] the Syrian army was in. So it was obvious to anyone in the field that there is an absolute coordination between the American planes who shelled the Syrian army and the terrorists who came in place of the Syrian army”

U.S. Central Command admitted the attack claiming it was a mistake

The Syrian official also blamed Washington and its allies for colluding with the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the region.

“Everything was calculated and Daesh knew about it…. Even Russia reached the terrifying conclusion that the United States is colluding with Daesh,” Shaaban stated, adding, “When Daesh advanced, the raids stopped.”

 The coalition aircraft, purportedly fighting Daesh in Syria, bombed the airbase on Saturday. At least a hundred soldiers were also injured.

Two F-16 and two A-10 jets entered the Syrian airspace from Iraq to conduct the attacks.

The US military says it halted the raids after Russian officials said the targets were Syrian government forces and not Daesh terrorists.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Shaaban said since the US-led intervention began in Syria in 2014, adding, “We have been saying that this is not against Daesh, that they are not striking Daesh.”

The so-called coalition has been conducting the airstrikes in Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Many have criticized the ineffectiveness of the raids.

Washington and some of its regional allies have supported Takfiri groups fighting against Syria’s government.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the attacks and to make the US respect Syria’s sovereignty.

Shaaban said such attacks could endanger a US-Russia brokered ceasefire deal meant to end hostilities in the conflict-ridden Arab country.

She added that Damascus believed the Saturday raids may signal divisions within the US administration on deepening cooperation between Washington and Moscow under the truce deal.

“What is worrying is its effect on the US-Russia agreement. I believe that some elements in the United States do not want this deal,” Shaaban said, adding, “There is a side that agrees with the Russians and another side that rejects the agreement. This makes it seem to us that the White House wants this agreement while the Pentagon rejects it.”

 However, Shaaban said Damascus was committed to the existing truce, adding, “We are committed to the truce. The truce is continuing until its expiration. Maybe it will be extended, maybe there will be another agreement.”</s>Syria’s army general command has said that US-led coalition jets bombed Syrian government forces’ positions near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor

According to Syria’s official news agency SANA, warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition, supposedly fighting ISIS, bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor military airport at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Saturday.

The air strike killed Syrian soldiers who had been preparing for an attack against ISIS, and was “conclusive evidence” that the U.S. and its allies support the terrorist group, the Syrian army said in a statement

Sixty-two Syrian soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike by the US-led coalition, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said, citing information received from the Syrian General Command.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the aircraft which carried out the bombings had entered Syrian airspace from the territory of Iraq. The airstrike against Syrian positions was performed by two F-16 jet fighters and two A-10 support aircraft, it said.

Even if the bombardment of the Syrian government troops was a mistake, it’s still a consequence of Washington’s unwillingness to coordinate its anti-terror efforts with Moscow, the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry also confirmed a report by SANA that an Islamic State offensive began right after Syrian Army positions were hit from the air.

The actions of the coalition “clearly paved the way for Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists to attack the position and take control of it,” the agency said citing the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces.

The General Command has called the bombing a “serious and blatant aggression” against Syrian forces, and said it was “conclusive evidence” that the US and its allies support IS militants.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia accused the US of being reluctant to take measures to force rebels under its control to fall in line with the terms of the Syrian ceasefire.

Numerous Russian appeals to the American side remain unanswered, which “raises doubts over the US’s ability to influence opposition groups under their control and their willingness to further ensure the implementation of the Geneva agreements,” senior Russian General Staff official, Viktor Poznikhir, said.

Poznikhir also said that the truce is being used by the militants to regroup, resupply and prepare an offensive against government troops.</s>Syrian army says U.S.-led coalition jets bombed it in support of Islamic State

BEIRUT, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Syria's army general command said warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, paving the way for Islamic State fighters to overun it.

The air strike killed Syrian soldiers and was "conclusive evidence" that the U.S. and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement, noting that the strike was "dangerous and blatant aggression".

The U.S.-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State since September 2014. In December Damascus accused the coalition of striking an army camp near Deir al-Zor, but Washington said it was done by Russian jets.

A strike list issued by the U.S. on Saturday said it had carried out a strike at Deir al-Zor against five Islamic State supply routes, as well as strikes near Raqqa and elsewhere in Syria.

Syria's army controls Deir al-Zor airport and parts of the city which are otherwise entirely surrounded by territory held by Islamic State.

The United States and Russia agreed a deal on Syria last week, involving a ceasefire which came into effect on Monday, aid deliveries to besieged areas and eventual joint targeting of militant jihadist groups if the truce works out.

Syria's five-year civil war between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking to topple him has drawn in regional and global powers and allowed militant jihadist groups including Islamic State to gain territory and inspire attacks. (Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by Louise Ireland)</s>The United States Central Command has released a statement admitting that US airstrikes hit Syrian Army positions.

They claim that they hit Syrian soldiers by mistake when they were targeting ISIS terrorists.

Up to 80 Syrian service men were killed in the incident near Deir al-Zor military airport on Saturday

US military officials acknowledge responsibility for the bombing attack against Syrian Army positions that paved the way for a major Daesh offensive against Assad government forces and that killed 80 Syrian service personnel, but claimed that the attack was an accident with the intended target being Daesh terrorists.

The attack was conducted by two F-16 fighter jets and two A10 ground attack aircraft that came into Syrian airspace through the Iraqi border without authorization from the Assad government.

The Russian Ministry of Defense immediately blasted the United States for the lethal attack observing that Daesh engaged in a major offensive after American forces crippled the Assad regime’s position. “If this airstrike was carried out due to an error in the coordinates of the targetm it is a direct consequence of US side’s unwillingless to coordinate its actions against terrorist groups with Russia,” the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman emphasized.

The attack came amid a ceasefire in Syria agreed upon by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry one week earlier and that came into effect on September 12. The attack threatens to undermine the delicate ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government concerned that it will provide Daesh terrorists an opportunity to regroup and that the rebels will not hold to the arrangement. Nonetheless, the attack also highlights the importance of the ceasefire deal and the need for the United States and Russia to coordinate on intelligence.

In the statement, Central Command says that “Coalition forces believed they were striking a Da’esh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike. The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition forces were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.”

The statement, provided in full below, goes on to imply that Russia is somehow to blame for the egregious accident that killed the 80 Syrian soldiers because the US claims that it “had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike.”
The United States acknowledges that its warplanes may have hit a Syrian Army position near Deir ez-Zor Airport in eastern Syria, while conducting an operation against ISIL, killing more than 60 Syrian troops.