Violence rises in Syria, puts truce in limbo

Airstrike mistake widens rift between U.S., Russia

This Aug. 31, 2016 file photo, provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), shows Syrian boys dive into a hole filled with water that was caused by a missile attack in the rebel-held neighborhood of Sheikh Saeed in Aleppo province, Syria.
This Aug. 31, 2016 file photo, provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), shows Syrian boys dive into a hole filled with water that was caused by a missile attack in the rebel-held neighborhood of Sheikh Saeed in Aleppo province, Syria.

BEIRUT -- Syria's fragile cease-fire started to unravel Sunday with aerial attacks on rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo and a southern village that killed at least eight people, violations that came as tensions between the deal's American and Russian brokers worsened after a deadly U.S.-led strike on Syrian government forces.

The air raid by the U.S.-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and led to a harsh verbal attack on Washington by Damascus and Moscow. The U.S. military said it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State militant group in eastern Syria on Saturday.

The seven-day cease-fire was supposed to end at midnight Sunday, according to a Syrian army statement issued last week. The U.S. and Russia have said that if it holds for seven days, it should be followed by the establishment of a Joint Implementation Center for both countries to coordinate the targeting of fighters linked to the Islamic State and other militant groups.

Despite largely holding, the cease-fire has been violated by both sides, and aid convoys have not reached besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and one-time commercial center, which has been the center of violence in recent months. Aid delivery to Aleppo is part of the cease-fire deal.

Earlier this month, Syrian government forces and their allies recaptured areas they had lost south of the city and reimposed a siege on opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. More than 2,000 people were killed in 40 days of fighting around the city, according to a Syrian activist group. About 700 of those were civilians, including 160 children, the group said.

Syrian state TV reported Sunday that dozens of residents had left rebel-held areas in Aleppo and were taken to shelters in the government-controlled part of the city.

Also Sunday, Aleppo's governor, Hussein Diab, called on insurgents in the eastern neighborhoods to turn themselves in, hand over their weapons and take advantage of an amnesty decree issued recently by Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Diab said in a statement carried by the Syrian Arab News Agency that all who turned themselves in and surrendered their weapons would be treated well and allowed to return to normal life.

The Syrian government and opposition on Sunday reported violations of the cease-fire.

Syrian state media said insurgents shelled residential areas in Aleppo and the central province of Homs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, and Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in the southern province of Daraa, said government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the village of Dael, killing at least eight people and wounding several others. In Aleppo, warplanes fired missiles at three neighborhoods, wounding several people, according to the activist-run Local Coordination Committees and the Observatory.

U.S.-Russia dispute

Moscow laid the blame for Sunday's violence squarely on the opposition. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement that both "terrorists and the opposition" are using the truce to "boost their forces and prepare for renewed hostilities."

Konashenkov said Russia still has not been able to contact the U.S.-backed opposition to coordinate cease-fire efforts despite the U.S.' assurances. He said the U.S. has not even tried to get the opposition to hold its fire.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry fired back in an interview with CNN, saying Russia needs to stop Assad from attacking the opposition and blocking aid delivery.

Saying Assad was a "spoiler" in the cease-fire, Kerry called on Moscow to "stop the grandstanding, stop the showboating, and get the humanitarian assistance going."

Kerry also said it was important to set up the Joint Implementation Center to prevent the "terrible thing that happened yesterday, that we all acknowledge and regret, but it happens when you have conflict." He appeared to be referring to the deadly U.S.-led airstrikes on the outskirts of the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria.

Syria called Saturday's strikes a "dangerous and blatant aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic and its army."

The Foreign Ministry's statement, sent to the U.N. Security Council, said American warplanes repeatedly attacked Syrian army positions on Saturday afternoon. It said the airstrikes were "on purpose and planned in advance" and killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.

Russia's military said it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 were wounded. The Russian air force has been carrying out strikes across Syria to bolster Assad's forces for nearly a year, and the two militaries work in close coordination.

The Observatory put the toll higher, saying the U.S.-led coalition struck army positions in Deir el-Zour and a nearby artillery division, killing 90 troops and wounding 110.

Whether U.S. warplanes conducted the attack is in question; the U.S.-led coalition is made up of 67 countries, more than a dozen of which carry out airstrikes against the militants.

Australian planes were involved in the Deir el-Zour air raid. Defense Minister Marise Payne told Australian Broadcasting Corp. today that Australia is taking part in a U.S. review of the airstrikes. She declined to say whether Australian fighter jets were involved or served as support aircraft.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in New York on Sunday that he regrets "the loss of life and injury to any Syrian personnel affected." He said Australian rules of engagement were to target the Islamic State.

The U.S. Central Command said Saturday's airstrike was "halted immediately" when U.S. forces were informed by Russia "that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military."

A U.S. Defense Department official said the strike "appears to be an intelligence failure."

The Syrian military said the airstrikes hit a base in Deir el-Zour that was surrounded by Islamic State militants, allowing the extremists to advance and overrun Syrian army positions in the area.

Tens of thousands of people live in government-held neighborhoods of Deir el-Zour under an Islamic State siege. Government areas have been relying on airlifted aid. The Islamic State also controls much of the surrounding province, which borders Iraq.

Russia said the United States was being obstructive and deceptive regarding the airstrikes. A Foreign Ministry statement released Sunday said that in an emergency Security Council session, the United States took "an unconstructive and indistinct position."

The Americans "not only turned out to be unable to give an adequate explanation of what happened, but also tried, as is their custom, to turn everything upside down," the statement said.

Iran, another close ally of Syria's government, also condemned the U.S.-led raid, saying it violated Syria's sovereignty and "showed that terrorist groups enjoy U.S. support in Syria."

Earlier Sunday, Syrian state media quoted an unnamed military official as saying that dozens of Islamic State fighters were killed near Deir el-Zour. The Islamic State had claimed that its fighters captured Tharda mountain, which overlooks the city's government-controlled airport.

The Syrian military official said government troops had regained control of areas the extremists captured "as a result of the American aircraft aggression."

State TV later reported that a Syrian warplane was shot down while carrying out attacks on Islamic State militants in Deir el-Zour province, adding that the pilot was killed. Islamic State-linked media also reported the plane downing.

The Observatory said airstrikes by Russian warplanes had killed at least 38 Islamic State fighters since Saturday.

Information for this article was contributed by Bassem Mroue, Albert Aji, Jim Heintz, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Maamoun Youssef of The Associated Press and by Liz Sly, Karen DeYoung and Louisa Loveluck of The Washington Post.

A Section on 09/19/2016

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