Moscow on Thursday denied any involvement in bloody air strikes on a Syrian school as its relations with the West took another hit and the EU slapped more sanctions on its ally Damascus. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an immediate probe into Wednesday's attack on the school in rebel-held Idlib province that he said "may amount to a war crime". The tensions mounted a day after the United States and Britain said they expected an assault to drive the Islamic State jihadist group out of Raqa, its de facto capital in Syria, within the next few weeks.
Syria's conflict broke out in March 2011 with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government but has evolved into a complex war involving regional and international powers. One complication has been the involvement of Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Thursday that his country's military operation supporting opposition fighters in Syria will also target Raqa.
Russia, whose military intervened in Syria in September last year, denied having played any role in air strikes on the school that the UN children's agency UNICEF said killed 22 students and six teachers. "The Russian Federation has nothing to do with this terrible tragedy, with this attack," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that Moscow demanded an immediate investigation.