Russia warns US of retaliation amid risk of Syria showdown

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Russia warns US of retaliation amid risk of Syria showdown

By Henry Meyer
Updated

New York: Russia issued an unusually blunt warning to the US that it will retaliate against American-backed fighters in Syria, accusing them of firing on government troops battling for territory in a strategic region bordering Iraq.

Russian special forces are fighting there alongside the Syrian soldiers, and any further attacks on them "will immediately meet with retaliation," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday. The ministry said Syrian troops twice came under massive mortar and artillery fire from positions held by America's Kurdish allies.

A view of the city of Deir Ezzor, Syria.

A view of the city of Deir Ezzor, Syria.Credit: AP

If that happens again, "the firing positions in those areas will be destroyed with all the arsenal at our disposal," Konashenkov said, adding that a formal warning has been delivered to US regional headquarters in Qatar.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to attend a meeting on Thursday at the United Nations in New York, along with US and European diplomats, to discuss the crisis in Syria, which has brought the former Cold War rivals to the brink of confrontation.

Russian soldiers who convoyed a group of journalists move on a truck in the city of  Deir Ezzor, Syria.

Russian soldiers who convoyed a group of journalists move on a truck in the city of Deir Ezzor, Syria.Credit: AP

Two years after Russia's military intervention in Syria reversed the course of the civil war in favour of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the Kremlin is backing a campaign by the Syrian president to regain control of as much of the country as possible.

That's provoked a standoff with the US, which is seeking to expand Syrian territory that's under the control of its local allies, and to counter the influence of Assad's other main supporter, Iran.

The risk of a direct clash escalated in the past week as Russian-backed Syrian forces fighting against Islamic State crossed the river Euphrates, after breaking an almost three-year jihadist siege of the city of Deir Ezzor.

US-supported Kurdish forces broke off from their fight for the Islamic State capital of Raqqa farther north and raced to the Deir Ezzor area, which is rich in oil deposits as well as a key gateway to Iraq.

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The Deir Ezzor region could allow Iran a land corridor to funnel arms deliveries all the way to its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, a prospect that would bolster its regional clout and has alarmed US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Still, Russia's dominant position in Syria has already led to a shift in the balance of forces, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, once key backers of the rebels fighting Assad, now cooperating with the Kremlin.

Lavrov told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that "there are considerable additional efforts needed to stabilise the situation in the region." But he said there are grounds for "cautious optimism" in Syria, and predicted that "de-escalation zones" that have eased the fighting in parts of the country will create the conditions for direct peace talks.

Last week, it was the US that was accusing Russian forces of targeting its local allies in the area around Deir Ezzor.

Military officials from the US-led coalition held a face-to-face meeting with Russian counterparts this week, Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the coalition, told a Pentagon briefing on Thursday.

The purpose of talks was to "adjust and expand deconfliction measures," and they covered issues including "the need to share operational graphics and locations to ensure the prevention of accidental targeting or other possible frictions," he said.

Russia says that rebels backed by the US discharged water from dams north of the Euphrates to hamper the crossing by Syrian troops, who were using Russian-made rafts. It has also accused the US of instigating a major attack by the former al-Qaeda wing in western Syria, to distract the Syrian army from its eastern campaign.

Lavrov said that group, "which for some reason is left alone by the members of the US coalition," should be targeted along with Islamic State as part of joint efforts aimed at "wiping out the last terrorist hideouts."

The US has sought to back more moderate rebels in Syria and denies any ties with jihadist groups, including al-Qaeda affiliates that are classified by the State Department as terrorist organisations.

Bloomberg

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