ISIS militants had taken about 700 hostages in Syria’s Deir-al Zor province after attacking a refugee camp in an area controlled by US-backed forces, according to the TASS news agency.
Officials said militants had kidnapped around 130 families and taken them to the city of Hajin.
It comes just days after Syria declared the delivery of new, modern missiles from Russia as a new means to not only secure Syria but the entire Middle East as Assad aims to increase his regional allies.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari spoke together and praised their countries’ victories over ISIS.
However, there’s a catch.
The United States is calling Putin’s claim “fake news”.
From Fox News:
U.S. officials have rejected claims from Vladimir Putin that ISIS has taken nearly 700 people hostage, including several European and U.S. Nationals in Syria.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News the story was “fake news”
Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Sean Robertson told Fox News: “While we have confirmed that there was an attack on an IDP camp near Deir Ezzour last week, we have no information supporting the large number of hostages alleged by President Putin and we are skeptical of its accuracy. We are also unaware of any U.S. nationals located in that camp.
“We reject Russian assertions that the U.S. and Coalition have failed to address the threat posed by ISIS. On the contrary, the Coalition has liberated more than 99 percent of the territory previously held by ISIS.
Looks like both sides can agree there was an attack. The severity of the attack is not clear.
