Russia: US Warplanes Bombed Aleppo Hospitals, Not Russians

Insists No Russian Planes Were Operating in the Area

Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied US allegations that they attacked a pair of hospitals in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, insisting no Russian planes were in the city on Wednesday, and that the only airstrikes in the area were carried out by a US aircraft.

The US and some US-backed rebels have been hyping claims of Russian airstrikes in and around Aleppo in recent days, as Syria’s military launches an offensive north of the city which is cutting off certain key rebel supply lines.

The US hasn’t responded to the Russian report, which suggested only an American A-10 was active over Aleppo city on Wednesday. An American A-10 was notably behind the attack on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan late last year.

While the US made a habit of denying all incidents of civilian casualties earlier in their air campaign in Syria, that they and Russia are both carrying out competing operations in many of the same areas seems tailor made for allowing the two nations to both blame the other when incidents happen.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.