After multiple military personnel from the United States were injured in an encounter between Russian and American armored vehicles in Syria, the Pentagon lambasted Russia's military stating that the latter exhibited provocative and aggressive behavior, Thursday.
Russia blames US troops
In a statement by Pentagon's Chief Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, he said that the forces from Russia breached the deconfliction arrangement with Syria resulting in several US service members becoming injured. The statement was the first comment that the Department of Defense has released about Tuesday's incident.
The Pentagon also added that they have already reached out to Russia about the dangerous and unacceptable behavior of their troops. Hoffman also stated that they are expecting to return to the professional deconfliction routine in Syria while reserving the right to defend the forces at any time that they are at risk, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, to answer Pentagon's statement, the Defense Ministry of Russia also released a statement on Thursday. Contradictory to the Pentagon's statement, Russia blamed the US troops for the incident. They also stated that the incident has already been discussed in a phone call between the Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and the US's Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
According to Russia's statements, details of the Russian convoy's movements were given to the US, however, US troops blocked the Russian patrol causing the collision. But the Central Command of the US military stated that they did not receive an advance notice or any notification of the movements of the Russian troops.
US troops already recuperating after the encounter
In addition, Capt. William Urban of the Central Command stated that Russia failed to use the established deconfliction measures in requesting passage of a Russian patrol on August 25 through the Eastern Syria Security Area (ESSA), Stars and Stripes reported.
Urban also stated that the encounter between the US-SDF patrol and the Russian convoy happened amid the "unauthorized incursion" of Russia. He also stated that the Russian troops proceeded recklessly to pursue the Coalition convoy even side sweeping a US vehicle. A Russian helicopter was also said to be flying at an extremely low level resulting in injuries of seven US soldiers.
According to the military, all members of the US service that were injured are already back in duty after treatment. The soldiers were reported to have sustained muscular strains due to vehicle crashes and mild concussive-type injuries, but there was no correspondence recommending the evacuation of the soldiers from Syria.
Encounters and close operations between US troops in Syria and the Russian military who are believed to e backing the Syrian regime are common in the area. However, the recent encounter is believed to be the first collision between the two forces.
Meanwhile, as the coalitions led by the US have described such close operations as professional, the number of encounters between the forces has increased ever since forces from Russia moved in the areas that have been ceded by the US.
Moscow's stand on the presence of US troops in Syria have been very clear amid their long protests.
