US bombed Syrian troops for an hour: Assad

Rasa - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that US airstrikes on Syrian troops on Saturday were "intentional" and lasted for nearly one hour.

News ID: 423803

Date: 22 September 2016 - 16:18

RNA - The US Central Command has said it may have unintentionally struck the Syrian airbase in Dayr al-Zawr while carrying out a raid against Daesh and that the strikes were halted in less than five minutes when Russia called the US to halt it.

Assad, in an interview with the Associated Press conducted Wednesday, also blamed the US for the collapse of a ceasefire deal brokered with Russia.

He said Washington "doesn't have the will" to join the fight against the Daesh group, which the US, Turkey and their allies have cited as the reason for their military intervention in Syria.

The Syrian president said the war, now in its sixth year, is likely to "drag on" because of what he said was continued external support for Takfiri terrorists and numerous militant groups.

"When you talk about it as part of a global conflict and a regional conflict, when you have many external factors that you don't control, it's going to drag on."

Assad also rejected accusations that Syrian or Russian planes struck an aid convoy in Aleppo and denied that his troops were preventing food from entering the militant-held part of the city.

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