Russia accuses US of not attacking Daesh in Syria town

By Diyar Guldogan

SOCHI, Russia

Russia on Tuesday accused the U.S. of not carrying out airstrikes against Daesh terrorists who were fleeing from the town of Abu Kamal in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province.

"This is the irrefutable evidence that there is no struggle against terrorism as the whole global community believes," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook along with photos.

The ministry said the U.S. "actually" covered the Daesh units in order for them recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote American interests in the Middle East.

"The American side clearly refused to carry out strikes on terrorists because ‘militants surrendered voluntarily’ and their actions were assessed in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

"However, the American side has failed to answer the question asked by the Russian side: why the ISIS terrorists left Syria on combat vehicles with heavy armament were regrouping in the coalition-controlled territories and preparing for new attacks [...]," said the statement.

"Regarding Abu Kamal, this is not the only case when the U.S. spares terrorists," Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia's official TASS news agency on Tuesday.