The fragile conditions of the ceasefire agreement enacted by the U.S. and Russian forces last week are now in danger of collapsing — if they haven’t as of this writing collapsed already — as reports are coming in saying that the U.S. has killed 62 Syrian troops that were fighting ISIS.
One report by BBC says that the attack took place in Deir al-Zour, which allowed the ISIS militants to advance.
According to their report, Russia acknowledged the danger of the agreement collapsing and that the United States will be blamed for it.
Earlier in the week, when the ceasefire was enacted, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed how complicated the agreement was and that it wasn’t about trusting each other in order to implement the ceasefire.
The Pentagon is not happy with John Kerry or his Syria cease-fire: https://t.co/ps8Gcwr7fX pic.twitter.com/rO3hI7XAxX
— Slate (@Slate) September 15, 2016
“No one is building this based on trust.”
Since Russia joined the fight in Syria last year, they have been accused of propping up the Assad regime, refusing to force a transition of power once ISIS is defeated.
What is known about the recent agreement with Russia is that Syrian troops are no longer allowed to attack the opposition in certain areas, in order to better manage humanitarian aid , which Inquisitr has reported on. But in a climate of consistent feuding and endless negotiations to finally settle on some compromise, the repercussions from the recent attack can be compared to trying to hold up boulders with a toothpick.
The article says that the Russians informed the U.S. Central Command that they might be firing on Syrian troops which caused them to halt their attack. But it also says that the Combined Air Operations Center informed Russian forces of the upcoming strike.
It’s at this point that one might want to ask if the joint-agreement should be built on trust after all, since it is the U.S. who is trusting Russia to, at the very least, make sure that they are hitting the right target.
The report reminds us that only when the ceasefire agreement holds for seven straight days would Russia and the U.S. join together to attack Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, otherwise known as the al-Nusra Front and ISIS. Few expected that it would be the U.S. who would end up violating the agreement, even though they are saying that it was an accident.
It also says that it is the Russian ministry of defense who have apparently quoted a Syrian commander who said that American strikes against his troops have caused ISIS to advance, and are even saying that it confirms to them that the U.S. is supporting ISIS.
During the week since the ceasefire agreement went into effect, there have been reports of the Syrian government preventing humanitarian aid from reaching their destinations. Secretary Kerry and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest have even said from the beginning of the week that Syrians receiving humanitarian aid is priority and the trucks providing it must get to their destinations as quickly as possible.
The BBC article also includes the reporting of frequent ceasefire violations on the ground apparently committed by rebel groups, who are supported by the U.S., and the problematic assertion that those moderate rebel groups could be separated from the extremists.
#Breaking Russian army accuses ‘moderate rebels’ of causing Syria ceasefire to fail https://t.co/TljYZSrmz7
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 17, 2016
Even John Kerry mentioned during his statement at the beginning of the agreement that the rebel groups must no longer associate themselves with those extremists.
Just as well, the same rebel groups have expressed doubts that the ceasefire would hold. Russia is currently holding the U.S. to account for the attack, and the heavily-relied-on Syrian Observatory for Human Rights organization originally reported 80 deaths from the attack, adding to a total number of 200 killed and injured.
Russia has also expressed frustration with the U.S. over the agreement in that the U.S. will not coordinate with them militarily.
[Featured Image by Kevin Lamarque/ Reuters /AP Images]
