Russia Bombs U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels, Claims It’s Hard to Tell Who They’re Bombing

A senior U.S. official told Voice of America News that Russian aircraft have “dropped bombs on rebels battling Islamic State in southern Syria, including those supported by the United States.”

“We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again,” the official said, expressing “serious concerns” about Russia’s intentions because their jets have not been active in that specific area for some time.

As VOA points out, those bombs hit U.S.-backed forces just one day after Secretary of State John Kerry tried getting tough with Russia and Syria about violating the “cease fire,” which the Obama administration has been trying very hard to portray as a diplomatic success, despite the considerable amount of firing that has been going on.

It should also be noted that the Russians conducted airstrikes on the besieged city of Aleppo just a few hours after they declared a “truce” in the area. According to civil defense officials, the strikes hit residential areas. Syrian government forces allied with Russia also hammered Aleppo with artillery overnight.

While the administration “seeks an explanation” for why Moscow just blew up its nominal allies, Russia warned the Obama administration not to consider airstrikes against the Assad regime as over 50 American diplomats have urged in a signed memorandum.

“It is not a secret to us that there are political forces in the US who favor a military solution. But this is not our method,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday, just a few hours after her country’s warplanes bombed insurgent forces trained and equipped by the United States.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia isn’t entirely certain who it’s bombing in Syria because “moderate” forces are mixed in with “terrorists.”

“Our air force operation is continuing in Syria,” said Peskov, who should consider dashing off a memo to Zakharova over at the Foreign Ministry to let her know that Russia does indeed have a “military solution” to the Syrian crisis in mind.

“It is not a secret for anyone that the continuing mingling in places of the so-called moderate opposition with Al-Nusra is a really serious problem.,” Peskov continued. “It really is complicating anti-terrorist action.”