Military Sources Warn of High Likelihood of Direct US-Syria Military Confrontation after Deir Ezzur Attack

Rasa - Informed military sources warned against possible direct military confrontation between Damascus and Washington after 90 Syrian soldiers were killed and many more were wounded in the US fighter jets' raids on their military base in Deir Ezzur province.

News ID: 423787

Date: 21 September 2016 - 20:15

RNA - "After the US-led warplanes attacked the Syrian army's military base in Deir Ezzur, the Syrian army has become more resolved not only to fight the terrorists, but also to directly confront the US," a Syrian military source told FNA on Wednesday.

He reiterated that the situation will surely change in Syria, and said, "The Syrian military men have grown so infuriated after the US attack on Deir Ezzur that they plan to strike at the US as soon as they see the slightest aggression."

On Saturday, the General Command of the Syrian army said the US-led coalition bombed the Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzur, killing some 80 soldiers and injuring dozens more.

The bombing took place on al-Thardah Mountain in the region of Deir Ezzur and caused casualties and destruction on the ground.

Eighty Syrian soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in the airstrike by the US-led coalition, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said, citing information received from the Syrian General Command. But several media activists later reported that the casualties rose to 90.

On Sunday, a military source said that the ISIL launched attacks on the Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzur only 7 minutes after the US-led coalition's airstrikes.

The military source reiterated that the air and ground assault were highly coordinated.

The source said after the coalition's pounding of the Syrian army near Deir Ezzur airbase, the ISIL could take full control of al-Thardah mountain and then Deir Ezzur military base, adding that the army and national defense forces deployed near the airbase immediately won it back from the terrorists by launching a counterattack.

Noting that Deir Ezzur is now almost in tranquility and no change has occurred in the military map of the region, the source said by attacking the Syrian army positions, the US seeks to prevent military operations to break the terrorists' siege on the city.

The source said the simultaneous raid of the ISIL terrorists immediately after the coalition airstrikes is the best evidence of the high coordination done between the US and the terrorists.

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