Russia has warned the United States that its troops will fire at U.S. Special Forces in Syria if they see evidence of collusion with ISIS.
Moscow issued the warning Thursday, claiming that its forces had come under fire from U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who seemed to be protecting ISIS.
Newsweek.com reports: Russia’s Ministry of Defense said mortars had been fired at its own special forces from positions held by U.S. troops and the SDF on the eastern banks of the Euphrates.
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“A representative of the U.S. military command in [the U.S. operations center in Qatar] was told in no uncertain terms that any attempts to open fire from areas where SDF fighters are located would be quickly shut down,” Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement reported by Russian state news agency Tass.
“Fire points in those areas will be immediately suppressed with all military means,” the statement added.
The meeting of the Russian and U.S.-backed offensives near Deir Ezzor has escalated tensions between the two sides in eastern Syria. Russia backs the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, while the U.S. has backed the SDF, a coalition of mostly Kurdish paramilitary brigades, in its own fight against ISIS in the area.
The SDF said on Saturday that it had come under attack from Syrian Army troops supported by Russian aircraft. Russia has denied being involved in any such action. The U.S.-backed militia warned Monday that any further attempts to advance on the eastern Euphrates would be met with retaliation.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has suggested SDF-held dams further up the Euphrates have been deliberately opened to impede the Syrian Army’s advances and has questioned whether any fighting is taken place between the majority Kurdish force and ISIS.
According to the spokesman quoted by Tass, 85 percent of Deir-Ezzor is now under regime control, adding that it expects the city to be liberated from ISIS forces within a week. The Russian Ministry of Defense also praised the effectiveness of the Syrian army’s advance while criticizing the U.S.-backed offensive in Raqqa, which it said had stalled.
The SDF has said, contradicting Russian statements, that it is in the final stages of its assault to liberate Raqqa and now holds 80 per cent of the the territory in the city.
A media official for the paramilitary group told Reuters between 700 to 1,000 ISIS fighters remained in the city.
Russia’s intervention in Syria in September 2015 on the side of the beleaguered regime of Bashar al-Assad changed the fortunes of the government in Damascus, which, at the time, was on the verge of defeat by rebel forces.
The U.S. intervened directly against Assad following the Syrian military’s chemical weapons attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the country’s north western Idlib province in April this year. President Donald Trump approved the launch of 59 cruise missiles targeting Syrian government military installations following the attack.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai
The US government does not support the well of the people by lying and working with isis, if that is the case Russia has the right to shoot.
This article falsely claims the Syrian government was behind the US sanctioned chemical attach on innocent civilians. Murdering millions of innocent civilians is what the USA, Israel and the coalition of terrorist NWO regimes does as a very deliberate policy. Any active fighters or trainers in Syria without the Syrian government’s invitation is a criminal and terrorist and should be fair game for any deadly force, Brits, Turks, American or local kurds. The US terror regime have bretrayed the Kurds before and will do it again, just as they did Ho Che Min and the Vietnamese who were forced to get help from the chinese to oust the occupying French.
Your first sentence is correct. The author should have corrected it, because this is how lies continue to be perpetuated within articles and or news reports, purporting to bring us the full truth. It was probably and omission here… but if it was, it was a serious one. Hugely frustrating when one reads it — marring what is an otherwise fair report. I had already left the site, but returned to reply to you– because what you remarked in correction of what the article simply allowed to fall through the crack as truth, is critically important. Thank you sir.