Patrick Ryder

We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from those strikes and express our deepest sympathies to the victims' families and those affected.

While we've seen no Russian airstrikes in the northern areas of Syria this week, it appears the Russians have conducted some airstrikes after all in southern Syria in the vicinity of Palmyra in support of the Syrian regime.

They have increased the number of strikes against ISIL, particularly in Raqqa, Deir-ez-Zor and down in some of the oil infrastructure in eastern Syria, southeastern Syria, however the majority of Russian air strikes are still against moderate Syrian opposition forces, which is clearly concerning, and those strikes are in support of the Syrian regime.

We are using all means at our disposal to look into what exactly happened and determine the appropriate response.

The Coalition does remain in contact with New Syrian Forces elements who have graduated from the program, who have expressed their eagerness to continue the counter-ISIL fight.