Pentagon denies US jets hit Syrian army camp

WASHINGTON

The Pentagon on Monday denied that U.S.-led coalition jets struck an army camp, killing Syrian soldiers.

"I can tell you that we did conduct four strikes in Dayr ez-Zour yesterday," said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis. "They were all against oil well heads. These strikes were about 55 kilometers (34 miles) away from the location where the strike against Syrian army was reported."

The Syrian foreign ministry claimed earlier in the day that four coalition jets targeted the camp, killing three soldiers and wounding 13 others.

Davis said coalition aircraft did not strike any vehicles or personnel targets, noting that there is no indication that there was any Syrian soldiers anywhere near the areas struck.

"We do not have any reason to target the Assad regime or Syrian army,” he said, adding that he did not have evidence about speculation that Russians jets may have been involved in targeting the camp.

"I don't know whether we have any evidence but I do know that they were involved and doing strikes Syria,” he said of possible Russian involvement. “They had long range bomber missions coming out of Russia into Syria yesterday to do strikes," he said. "We have not been able to correlate one to the other."

The allegations by the Syrian foreign ministry, however, will be examined.

Citing unnamed officials, some media outlets have claimed the U.S. was certain that a Russian airstrike hitting the camp.