by James Tweedie

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad accused the United States yesterday of lacking “the will” to fight foreign-backed terrorists in his country alongside Russia.

In an interview with US news agency the Associated Press, Mr Assad dismissed US excuses for Saturday’s hour-long blitz of a key Syrian army postion in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, which is besieged by Islamic State (Isis).

He pointed out that Isis had forces ready to storm the army position on Thardeh mountain overlooking the city’s airport — the only lifeline to 200,000 civilians — as soon as the bombing ended.

“How could they know that the Americans are going to attack that position in order to gather their militants to attack right away and to capture it one hour after the strike?” the Syrian president asked. “So it was definitely intentional, not unintentional as they claimed.”

The army regained control of the mountain on Monday, but on Wednesday Isis again took advantage of the damage done by the US air strikes to recapture the position.

According to an unconfirmed report yesterday, troops managed to fight off an assault on the airport itself while warplanes hit Isis positions on the mountain.

Co-operation against both Isis and al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliates is a central pillar of the ceasefire deal between the two powers, which collapsed on Monday.

At the UN general assembly on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested a three-day “silence” to revive the truce but lambasted his US counterpart John Kerry for failing to separate the “moderate” rebels from the terrorists as agreed.

Mr Assad also blasted the US claim that Syrian or Russian jets had bombed a United Nations aid convoy on Monday night, saying it “has no credibility” and is “just lies.”

Yesterday, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Joesph Dunford told the Senate armed services committee: “There is no doubt in my mind that Russia is responsible. I just don’t know whose aircraft dropped the bombs.”

He added that he was opposed to intelligence-sharing with Russia, one of the terms of the agreement.

Meanwhile, the evacuation of some 120 insurgent fighters and their families from the al-Waer suburb of Homs finally began, despite UN opposition to the peace deal.

The evacuees will be relocated to al-Dar al-Kabirah in the insurgent-occupied Talbiseh pocket north of the city after surrendering their heavy weapons under the amnesty.

Homs Governor Talal Barazi said that the absence of UN representatives from the inter-Syrian dialogue was “not constructive.”

jamestweedie@peoples-press.com