Russia denies bombing positions of US-backed SDF forces in eastern Syria

The Russian military has flatly rejected a claim that its warplanes have bombed the positions of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s flashpoint province of Dayr al-Zawr.

“This is not possible. Why would we bomb them?” the AFP quoted Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s military spokesman at the Hmeymim Air Base, as saying on Saturday. The air base, located in Syria’s western province of Latakia, is Moscow's main outpost for its counterterrorism airstrikes in the Arab country.

Earlier in the day, the US-backed militia claimed that they had allegedly come under attack from Russian fighter jets in the strategic and oil-rich eastern province, a complex battlefield where Syrian troops, backed by aerial cover from the Russian air force, and the SDF forces are carrying out parallel yet separate offensives against the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

The Syrian forces managed to reach Dayr al-Zawr’s provincial capital of the same name, which lies on the western bank of the Euphrates River, earlier this month, breaking a nearly three-year-old Daesh siege on government-held parts of the city.

The Washington-backed SDF is a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which has been in control of large parts of northeastern Syria for years. The SDF forces have already gained ground against Daesh in the northern city of Raqqah, the terror group’s de facto capital in the Arab country.

The United States and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. They also support some groups, such as the SDF, claiming that they help them in their alleged fight against Daesh terrorists. Damascus has repeatedly voiced its strong opposition against operations of the so-called coalition in the Arab country.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011. The government controls the main urban centers in the west of the country and has recaptured much of the eastern desert from Daesh in recent months.

On September 12, Lieutenant General Aleksandr Lapin, the Russian chief of staff in Syria, announced that Damascus was in control of 85 percent of the Arab country’s territories. He added that Syrian forces must now purge terrorists from the country's remaining 15 percent, which amounts to 27,000 square kilometers.

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