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Russian Defense Ministry to hand over details on Hassadjek airstrike to Belgium

The Russian Defense Ministry’s report was based on objective control means
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 20 /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry will turn over material on the F-16 strike at the Hassadjek village on Aleppo’s outskirts to Belgium, Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

"Military and diplomatic channels will be used to inform Belgium in detail about the Belgian F-16s operation in the skies over Syria," he said.

Konashenkov said that the Russian Defense Ministry’s report was based on objective control means. "Therefore, when Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput flatly denied - with his hand on his heart as he said that the allegations that Belgian planes were involved in delivering an airstrike on a Kurdish village, can only mean two things - either Steven Vandeput is intentionally misleading the world, or his subordinates along with US colleagues are cheating the leadership of the Kingdom of Belgium," General Konashenkov affirmed.

He added that the Hassadjek bombing was not the first case when the international coalition’s planes delivered airstrikes on civilians and refused to bear responsibility for their actions afterwards. "This is how weddings, funeral processions, hospitals, humanitarian aid convoys and even the Syrian troops, which are fighting IS (the Islamic State terrorist group, which is banned in Russia) near Deir ez-Zor. It does not only happen in Syria," Konashenkov stressed.

He added that none of the coalition states had ever been brought to justice for those cases.

The Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria reported the air raid on Hassadjek on October 18. The Russian military claim there were no Russian or Syrian planes in the area, but Belgian fighter jets were spotted near Hassadjek. Six Belgian F-16 warplanes were involved in the international coalition’s operation against the Islamic State (terror organization, banned in Russia). Belgium has been denying its links to the Hassadjek bombing.