Syria slams US-led coalition for destroying two bridges

Syria has slammed the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh for destroying two bridges over Euphrates River in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, where the same alliance recently killed 83 Syrian soldiers.

The attacks “confirm the so-called international coalition’s intent to bomb and destroy Syrian infrastructure and economic and social establishments through repeated aggressive acts,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in two letters to the UN chief and the Security Council on Thursday.

The ministry said said terror groups are the only beneficiaries of the US-led coalition’s attacks, which come under the pretext of a war against Daesh.

The letters reiterated that the US-led alliance’s raids run contrary to international rules and the UN Charter, calling on the world body to condemn this “deliberate” act of aggression.

The official SANA news agency reported that the bridges of al-Asharah and al-Mayadin in the eastern countryside of the provincial capital city of Dayr al-Zawr were hit by the coalition’s warplanes on Wednesday.

Syria’s ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said the bridges had been used by hundreds of thousands of civilians in the area.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based rights group advocating militants in Syria, said the two bridges are now unusable, a situation which would impede aid deliveries and hamper movement of civilians.

Since 2014, the United States, along with a number of its allies, has been leading a so-called anti-terror campaign in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Instead of helping to rein in the Takfiri terrorists, the air raids have killed many civilians, and caused extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure.

On September 17, a Syrian army airbase in Dayr al-Zawr came under attack by US-led warplanes in violation of a nationwide ceasefire deal, which had been mediated by Russia and the US.

More than 80 Syrian soldiers lost their lives and some 100 others were wounded in the US-led airstrikes, which helped Daesh terrorists make some gains in the area.

Syria ‘not killing its own people’

Speaking to reporters after a Thursday UN Security Council meeting on Syria, Ja’afari further dismissed accusations that the Damascus army targets civilians, saying it is the terrorists who have been killing Syrians and hampering relief operations.

“The Syrian government is not bombing civilians. These people are our own people. We don’t bomb civilians, we don’t kill civilians,”

The senior diplomat added, “We don’t bomb humanitarian convoys. We don’t do that. Those who did it are the terrorists.”

On September 19, an airstrike targeted a UN aid convoy near Aleppo, killing 20 people. The US claimed Syria and Russia were behind the raids, an allegation they strongly rejected. 

The comments came after UN Secretary General blamed the government in Damascus for most civilian deaths in Syria since the outbreak of the foreign-sponsored crisis there in early 2011.

More than 400,000 people have died and half the 22 million population have been uprooted in the crisis, according to the latest estimates by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Over the past weeks, there has been a rise in fighting between Syrian forces and Takfiri militant groups across the Arab state, particularly in the city of Aleppo, after the collapse of a week-long ceasefire there.

The truce, which had been mediated by the US and Russia, expired on September 19, with Damascus refusing to extend it after its base in Dayr al-Zawr was hit by US-led air raids in breach of the deal.

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