Russian Air Force bomb US-backed forces in Syria: US
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WASHINGTON: (APP) Russian warplanes bombed US-backed fighters in several small villages in northern Syria after they mistakenly thought Islamic State forces were in the area, a US general said Wednesday.
Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said Russian and Syrian regime aircraft attacked the villages to the south and east of Al-Bab in Aleppo province on last Tuesday, resulting in an unspecified number of casualties.
The Russians apparently had observed IS fighters moving from the area and wrongly assumed that incoming forces were jihadists.
"We had some Russian aircraft and regime aircraft bomb some villages that I believe they thought were held by ISIS, yet ... actually on the ground were some of our Syrian Arab Coalition forces," Townsend told reporters in a video call from Baghdad.
