assad
© SANA / Reuters
Den syriske Præsident Bashar Assad sagde at de amerikanske luftangreb som dræbte 62 syriske regerings soldater var "udført bevidst" og de varede ved i en time. Han tilføjede at USA ikke har viljen til at deltage sammen med Rusland i bekæmpelsen af terrorister i Syrien.

I en samtale med Associated Press i Damaskus, benægtede den syriske leder at luftangrebene som var udført af USA tæt ved Deir ez-Zor den 17. September var en fejltagelse. 62 syriske soldater blev dræbt og over 100 blev sårede, ifølge den syriske hær. Assad sagde at de blev bevidst angrebet.

"Det var ikke et uheld foretaget af et fly; der var fire fly som fortsatte med at angribe den syriske hærs positioner for næsten en time eller måske en smule mere end en time," fortalte Assad til AP, og tilføjede at de angreb et stort område som "bestod af mange bakker" tilstødende der hvor de syriske tropper var placeret.

Assad stillede også spørgsmål ved hvordan IS kunne lancere et angreb så hurtigt efter flyangrebet.


Kommentar: IS angreb blot 7 minutter efter det amerikanske flyangreb.




Kommentar: Denne artikel er blot delvis oversat til dansk af sott.net fra: Assad tells AP: U.S. doesn't have the will to fight terrorism, strikes on Syrian troops were intentional


"The IS troops attacked at the very same time as the American strike. How could they know that America was going to attack that position in order to gather their militants right away and attack it one hour after the strike. It was definitely intentional and not unintentional," he added.

The Pentagon said the airstrikes on Syrian troops were an accident and that they were aimed at Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists.

Assad also claimed that the US is not interested in fighting terrorists in Syria, saying that Washington "lacks the will" to join Russia in trying to eliminate extremist groups.

"When you have many external factors that you don't control, it's going to drag on and no one in this world can tell you when," he answered a question about when the war might end.

He also said that the conflict is likely to drag on because the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar keep supporting those opposed to Assad's rule.

The Syrian president dismissed US claims that Russian or Syrian planes were responsible for a fatal attack on an aid convoy which killed 21 people September 19. He said the American accusations have "no credibility" and they are "just lies."

"I would say whatever the American officials said about the conflict in Syria has no credibility. Whatever they say is just lies."

When pressed about what happened to the aid convoys, Assad said they were passing through rebel-held areas and these "terrorists" were responsible for their security.

"We don't have any idea about what happened. The only thing we saw was videos of burnt-out, destroyed trucks and nothing else," Assad said.