Syria expressed outrage Monday after a suspected US-led coalition strike for the first time killed regime troops, but the coalition denied its warplanes hit an army base. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Syria's foreign ministry condemned what it called a "flagrant aggression" that killed at least three soldiers late Sunday.
But a spokesman for the US-led coalition said its only strikes in the area on Sunday were some 55 kilometres (35 miles) southeast of the Syrian army base. "The Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns this flagrant aggression by the US-led coalition forces, which blatantly violates the objectives of the UN charter," the foreign ministry said in the letter.
It demanded the Council "act immediately in the face of this aggression and take appropriate measures to prevent its recurrence." It said three Syrian soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in strikes by four coalition planes on an army camp in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. A Syrian military source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said four soldiers had been killed and 13 wounded in the strike, near the town of Ayyash.
The military source said the attack happened Sunday night and hit several buildings used as weapons depots and an army training camp, damaging two tanks. The Observatory said it was the first time a US-led coalition strike had killed Syrian government troops. Much of Deir Ezzor is under the control of the Islamic State group, which the US-led coalition regularly targets in the province.