The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the killing of the civilians, calling on the Afghan government and international military forces to launch a “prompt, independent, impartial, transparent, and effective investigation into the incident.” The airstrike took place in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan, early Wednesday morning.

The UN said the civilians had gathered in a village to celebrate the return of a tribal elder from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and were sleeping in a guesthouse of the elder when the airstrike took place.

"A drone targeted the house and killed most of them," Mohammed Ali, the Achin district police chief, told Reuters.
Civilian victims of the strike included students and a teacher, according to the UN.

"I saw dead and wounded bodies everywhere,” Raghon Shinwari, who was injured in the attack, told Reuters, speaking from a hospital bed in Jalalabad city.

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Afghan government sources told the UN mission that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) personnel also died in the attack. Provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal confirmed that several IS leaders had been killed, but denied there were any noncombatants among the victims, Reuters reported.

The US military acknowledged it had conducted an aerial attack in Nangarhar, but refused to discuss the incident.

“We won't discuss the details of the specific counter-terrorism operation conducted in Nangarhar on 28 September because we are still reviewing all materials related to the strike,” it said in a statementon Wednesday.

“We take every possible measure to avoid civilian casualties in these operations, and will continue to work with Afghan authorities to determine if there is cause for additional investigation as we partner with the Afghan government in the broader fight against terrorism.

“We will continue our mission to degrade, disrupt, and destroy Daesh [Arabic pejorative for IS] and to help our Afghan partners to do the same.”

The US military told the AP that it had been conducting air operations against IS loyalists in Achin at the time. The spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said in a statement that US forces were working"with Afghan authorities to determine if there is cause for additional investigation."

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The US mission in Afghanistan has dragged out much longer than originally anticipated, with President Barack Obama canceling the initial plan to withdraw the majority of troops in 2014 in exchange for a blueprint to scale back forces by early 2017. In July this year, Washington announced that the US will leave 8,400 troops through the end of the Obama administration, citing an increase in Taliban attacks.

The Taliban has been around in Afghanistan for the last two decades, while Islamic State activities were reported in Afghanistan in late 2014. Though the Al-Qaeda offshoot treats other extremist groups in the region with skepticism, it has opted for a “non-aggression pact” with IS.

The US bears full responsibility for the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who served as Russian envoy to Afghanistan in 2004-2009, said earlier this month.

Washington “cut back their presence [in Afghanistan] and did not resolve a single issue and created more problems. They carry political and moral responsibility for what is taking place in Afghanistan now," he noted.

(RT)

Russian airstrikes on radical Islamists in Syria over the past year have ensured that "neither Islamic State, nor Al-Qaeda nor the Nusra Front are now sitting in Damascus," Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

He noted, however, that assessing the success of the ongoing operation is the task of military experts.

Responding to a question on whether the Russian leadership anticipated that the operation in Syria would last more than a year, Peskov said that no time frame was outlined when the initial decision to send aircraft to Syria was made.

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“At the same time, the main goal was declared to help Syrians and the Syrian Army in the fight against terrorists, who at the start of [our] operation occupied most of the country,” he pointed out.

Peskov also commented on the recent reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which earlier in the day said some 3,800 civilians had been killed as a result of Russian Air Force operations in the country.

“We do not view the information about what is happening in Syria from an organization stationed in the United Kingdom as valid,” Peskov said.

According to various reports, the total number of fatalities in the conflict ranges from 290,000 to 470,000 people. Over 4 million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million people are internally displaced. An estimated 13.5 million people inside Syria are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including 6 million children, according to the latest report by UNICEF.

Syria has been engulfed in civil war since 2011, with the government fighting a number of rebel groups in addition to radicals such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Al-Nusra), recently ‘rebranded’ as Fatah al-Sham.

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Russia began its anti-terrorism campaign in the Middle Eastern country following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad in September 2015. The operation was officially concluded in March. However, a part of the Russian forces remains in Syria to assist the country’s authorities with military and humanitarian tasks.

Earlier this week, Peskov said Russia will continue its military operation in Syria. He also expressed Russia’s readiness to continue the dialogue with the US regarding joint actions to combat terrorists in the country, despite the recent rift between the two co-chairs of the Syria Support Group, or SSG. Washington, which supports the so-called ‘moderate opposition’ in Syria, previously promised to separate rebels from the Al-Nusra Front terrorist organization, but has not yet lived up to that obligation.

Relations were also marred by the US-led coalition’s bombing of Syrian government forces’ positions near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor on September 17. The incident dealt a serious blow to the Syrian ceasefire deal, which Moscow and Washington agreed to earlier this month, with the Syrian Army General Command at the time saying the airstrike “paved the way” for Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants. Washington acknowledged the airstrike and even apologized for the mistake.

Also, on September 19, a UN humanitarian convoy consisting of 31 trucks was attacked while heading to Aleppo. According to the Red Cross, 20 civilians and one aid worker died as a result. Initial reports by the organization claimed the convoy had been targeted by an airstrike. The US State Department was quick to blame Damascus and Moscow for the attack. The Russian Defense Ministry, however, stated that Russian and Syrian warplanes did not launch airstrikes on the aid convoy, with Moscow saying that only militants who control the area had information regarding its location.


(RT)

On September 30, 2015 Russian jets conducted their first strikes against terrorist targets in Syria, hitting Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) positions near the cities of Homs and Hama.

By that time the US-led coalition had been already active in Syria for over a year. Yet Russia became the only state which received an official request from Syrian President Bashar Assad to conduct air strikes in the country. The Russian jets operated from the Khmeimim air base located in Syria’s Latakia Governorate.

Liberation of Palmyra

During its mission, the Russian Air Force aided the Syrian army in liberating one of the country’s key cities and a world heritage site – Palmyra. The ancient city had been under the control of IS since May 2015 before it was retaken by government forces backed by Russian airstrikes in March this year.

Jihadists destroyed numerous historical landmarks during the occupation, while leaving roads, houses and monuments booby trapped. Russian and Syrian sappers defused thousands of mines left by the terrorists after their retreat. Following the liberation of the ravaged city, the world-famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led a concert in Palmyra to support its restoration and honor the victims of the war.

Downing of SU-24

The Russian military operation in Syria was marred by a tragic incident last year after Turkish fighter jets downed a Russian Su-24 bomber near the Syria-Turkey border. One pilot died as a result, while another one was rescued. Ankara said that the Russian plane violated its airspace, but Moscow said the Su-24was attacked over the Syrian border. During their rescue operations Russian forces also lost a helicopter, which was attacked from the ground by the militants.

Reduction of military presence

On March 15 Putin ordered the withdrawal of the majority of Russian jets and personnel from Syria, announcing that the major part of the operation in Syria was over. “I believe that the objectives with which the Ministry of Defense has been tasked have been largely reached. Therefore, starting with tomorrow I order the withdrawal of the main part of our military from the Syrian Arab Republic,” Putin said.

Humanitarian assistance

Over the course of the Syrian mission Russia established a Reconciliation Center in the country. The facility was tasked with helping to monitor the cessation of hostilities and implement international peace proposals on the ground.

On July 28 this year the center and the Syrian government introduced three “safe corridors” for civilians willing to leave the ravaged Aleppo. The plan also included a fourth passage for militants who wanted to surrender. The corridors have been largely used to deliver humanitarian aid, including medicine and water to the population.

Peace process

While battling jihadists from the air, Russia alongside the US was a key player in negotiating a political solution to the Syrian deadlock. Following marathon talks in Geneva in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry brokered a deal on the cessation of hostilities in Syria.

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The agreement, which came into force on February 27, included a stop to military action from both the rebel and government side. Terrorist groups, like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra were excluded from the truce deal. After establishing its Reconciliation Center at Khmeimim air base, Moscow handed over contact data to Washington.

However in the following weeks, the Russian Defense Ministry said that it noted “verified proof of systematical violations” on the part of anti-government forces. It has also urged Washington to stick to promises and push the rebels to delineate their territories from those held by terrorists. The US on its part said Damascus attempted to jeopardize the cessation of hostilities, adding that Moscow did not use its influence over President Assad.

The deteriorating violence across Syria forced the US and Russia to acknowledge that the ceasefire had to be renegotiated. A fresh round of talks resulted in a new deal on the cessation of hostilities, announced by Lavrov and Kerry on September 9 in Geneva. The agreement was part of a larger peace plan, which also included the delivery of humanitarian aid, in particular to Aleppo. The deal, which again excluded terrorist groups came into force on September 12 but has since been marred by numerous violations. Just three days later Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said US-backed rebels had been“intensifying the shelling of residential areas” in Aleppo.

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Moscow also demanded Washington use its influence to persuading rebel forces to clearly separate themselves from jihadists in Syria to avoid hitting them in airstrikes. John Kerry in return said President Assad has not been willing to comply with the peace agreement.

Speaking to RT President Assad’s Political and Media Adviser Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban said that while Russia is “truly fighting terrorism,” internal disagreements in the US are hampering truce efforts inside Syria.

A fresh row between Moscow and Washington blew up Wednesday when State Department spokesperson John Kirby warned Russia that “more Russian lives will be lost” and its interests attacked if violence in Syria continued.

His comments came in the wake of reports of heightened bombing in Aleppo. In response on Thursday a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry said that Moscow is “fully prepared to continue the dialogue with the American side and carry on with the joint actions to combat terrorists in Syria.”

However Konashenkov noted that even “slightest hints of a threat to our soldiers and Russian citizens must be excluded from this dialogue.”