by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Syrian army official confirms airstrike inflicted damage, casualties to Iranian-backed forces fighting alongside President Assad's troops • This proves coalition is "in support of terrorism," he says • Syrian military warns against further escalation.
A U.S.-led airstrike in
northern Syria [Archive]
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
The United States launched an airstrike on
Tuesday against Iranian-backed fighters who it said posed a threat to
U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in southern Syria, in a new escalation of
tensions between Washington and troops supporting Damascus.
The Pentagon, which has sought to stay out of
Syria's civil war to instead focus its firepower on Islamic State
militants in Syria and Iraq, carried out a similar strike on May 18 that
was denounced by Damascus.
A Syrian military source said the strike had
caused deaths and material damage and showed the coalition was "in
support of terrorism." The Syrian military command warned against the
dangers of escalation, the source added.
In recent days, the U.S. military has
repeatedly warned massing forces to stay away from a so-called
"deconfliction" zone near a garrison used by American special forces and
U.S.-backed fighters around the southern town of At Tanf.
The zone was agreed with Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad's ally. Assad is also backed by Iran and Shiite militias.
"Despite previous warnings, pro-regime forces
entered the agreed-upon de-confliction zone with a tank, artillery,
anti-aircraft weapons, armed technical vehicles and more than 60
soldiers," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement.
It said the United States, via a military
hotline with Russia, issued several warnings before the strike, which
destroyed two artillery pieces and an anti-aircraft weapon and damaged
the tank.
A U.S. official confirmed the strike was carried out by manned U.S. aircraft.
"The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian
regime or pro-regime forces but remains ready to defend themselves if
pro-regime forces refuse to vacate the deconfliction zone," the
statement said.
The incident showed that the area around the Tanf garrison in southern Syria was under growing pressure.
Tanf is part of a region known as the Badia,
which consists of a vast, sparsely populated desert territory that
stretches to the Jordanian and Iraqi borders and was declared a military
priority by Syria's foreign minister earlier in May.
U.S.-backed rebel advances against Islamic
State militants have allowed them to secure swaths of territory in the
Badia, alarming the Syrian government and its allies.
U.S.-backed rebels took Tanf from Islamic
State last year, and regional intelligence sources say they mean to use
it as a launchpad to capture Bukamal, a town on Syria's border with Iraq
and an important jihadist supply route.
The coalition's presence in Tanf, on the
Damascus-Baghdad highway, was also meant to stop Iran-backed groups from
opening an overland route between Iraq and Syria, the sources say.
In interviews with Syrian state-owned TV
station al-Ikhbariya broadcast on Saturday, Syrian soldiers vowed they
would reopen the Baghdad-Damascus highway.
"Within a few days, you will find us at the
Iraqi border, and we will achieve a great and historic victory in the
history of this crisis, cleansing the entire Badia, liberating the Tanf
road ... and restoring the vital artery between Iraq and Syria," said a
soldier interviewed by the state TV channel in the Badia area.
Western-backed rebels on Tuesday resumed a
heavy barrage of rocket attacks on Iranian-backed militia outposts along
the Baghdad-Damascus highway.
The United States aims to keep all sides focused on battling Islamic State.
"The coalition calls on all parties in southern Syria to
focus their efforts on the defeat of Islamic State, which is our common
enemy and the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and
security," the statement said.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=42943
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