By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA): The U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition on Thursday struck forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that “posed a threat to U.S. and partner forces” in the southeastern city of al-Tanf, the American military said.
The coalition carried out the strike after Russian attempts to halt the advance on the town apparently failed to stop the troops from moving south into an agreed upon deconfliction zone where the U.S. and its allies were operating.
At the time, the Assad-allied forces “were advancing well inside” the deconfliction area, the coalition said.
Prior to launching the strike, the coalition said in a statement it carried out an aerial “show of force”, and fired warning shots.
“Coalition forces have been operating in the At Tanf area for many months training and advising vetted partner forces engaged in the fight against ISIS,” the coalition said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, another name for Daesh.
Al-Tanf is also known as At Tanf.
The strike took place within a de-escalation zone northwest of the city of Al-Tanf, one of the four zones whose establishment was brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey during the May 3-4 negotiations in Astana.
Under the deal, all military activity is banned in these zones, including air operations and sorties.
The coalition said the de-confliction zone “remains in effect”.
Russia called an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the attack, which was conducted by two F-16 and two A-10 jets that had entered Syrian airspace from Iraq.
