US-led air raids in Syria kill 100 pro-Assad fighters

International Desk: Syria has accused the US-led coalition of "war crimes" after air raids in oil-rich Deir Az Zor province targeted its fighters.

A US official told a news agency on Thursday that more than 100 pro-government fighters were killed in the overnight raids.

The US said they had responded to an "unprovoked attack" against the Washington-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but did not give any details on casualties.

A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters that the SDF had "acted in self-defence with support" from the US-led coalition.

"Pro-regime forces initiated what appeared to be a coordinated attack on Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates river deconfliction line," Dana White said.

"Syrian Democratic Forces supported by the coalition targeted the aggressors with a combination of air and artillery strikes," she added.

Syrian news agency SANA disputed the US account and said that the US-led coalition had "attacked popular forces that were fighting" armed groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

The Syrian government described the air raids as a "a new aggression that poses a war crime and a crime against humanity".

It called on the UN Security Council to condemn the "massacre", according to state news agency SANA.

Russia, an ally of Assad, said the goal of the US military presence in Syria is "aimed at taking control fo the country's economic assets and not at fighting against [ISIL]", Russian news agency TASS reported.

The SDF is a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters led by the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG).

Source: Agencies


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