Australian jets were involved in airstrikes which mistakenly targeted the Syrian military instead of Islamic State militants, Defence officials have confirmed.
A number of Australian aircraft were among the international fleet taking part in the US-led operation near Dayr Az Zawr in Syria when Russian officials advised the targets may have been Syrian military personnel.
The Russian military said “62 Syrian soldiers were killed and a hundred more were injured” in the airstrikes.
A statement from the Australian Defence department today said as soon as the Combined Air Operations Centre was advised the target was Syrian military personnel, “bombing ceased immediately”.
“While Syria remains a dynamic and complex operating environment, Australia would never intentionally target a known Syrian military unit or actively support Daesh,” the statement read, using another term for ISIS.
“Defence offers its condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded in this incident.
“As Australians would expect, the US-led Coalition will review this incident thoroughly and Australia will cooperate fully with this review.”
The Russian military said two F-16 and two A-10 jets flew into Syrian airspace from neighbouring Iraq to carry out the strikes.
"Straight after the coalition's strikes, ISIS militants launched an offensive," a Russian statement read, adding that "fierce fighting against the terrorists" ensued nearby
The United States has relayed its “regret” for what it described as the “unintentional loss” of life of Syrian forces in the strike, a US official said.
The 15-member Security Council met last night after Russia demanded an emergency session to discuss the incident and accused the US of jeopardising the Syria deal.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, chastised Russia for the move.
"Russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts and focus on what matters, which is implementation of something we negotiated in good faith with them," Ms Power told reporters.
She said the US was investigating the airstrikes and "if we determine that we did indeed strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention and we of course regret the loss of life."
When asked if the incident spelled the end of the Syria deal between Moscow and Washington, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "This is a very big question mark."
Moscow has cited the strikes as evidence that the US was helping ISIS jihadist militants.
"We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world: That the White House is defending Islamic State. Now there can be no doubts about that," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
Ms Power said Ms Zakharova should be embarrassed by that claim.
Mr Churkin said Russia had no "specific evidence" of the US colluding with ISIS militants.
Ms Zakharova said the strikes threatened to undermine the ceasefire in Syria brokered by Russia, which has been aiding Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, and the US, which has backed some rebel groups.
The ceasefire, which took effect on Monday, is the most significant peacemaking effort in the country for months, but has been undermined by repeated accusations of violations on both sides and by a failure to bring humanitarian aid to besieged areas.
In its sixth year, the Syrian conflict has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced half of Syria's pre-war population, prompted a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe and inspired a wave of jihadist attacks across the world.
With AFP.