Russian Federation has said it would step up its airstrikes in Syria, escalating a military intervention which Moscow launched on Wednesday to weaken ISIS militants, but which Western powers say aims to support President Bashar Al-Assad.
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SU-24M and SU-34 bombers also hit eight IS facilities in the area of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib province.
I was recently in Kurdish-controlled north-east Syria, where the bomb-shattered ruins of Kobane look like pictures of Stalingrad after the battle. Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook.
“Unfortunately, both Russian Federation and Iran are supporting [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad’s regime“.
A picture depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin is splattered… The philosophy of Russian propaganda to the outside world has been to attack and undermine Western news organizations and Western leaders, not to deliver Russia’s message.
“It must succeed otherwise we face the destruction of the entire region, not only one or two states,” he said in an interview with Iranian television broadcast on Sunday. He not only acquiesced to the Russian buildup, he held an ostentatious meeting with Putin on the subject, thereby marking the ignominious collapse of Obama’s vaunted campaign to isolate Putin diplomatically over Crimea.
“Saturday [September 26] was the 15th straight day Russian transport aircraft had flown in troops and equipment to the Hmeimim base in Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast”, a military source told Agence France-Presse.
Cameron’s comments echo the outspoken criticism of Russia’s intervention by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who said the “vast majority” of strikes since President Putin began the action had not been aimed at Daesh jihadists but were instead “killing civilians” and the Free Syrian forces rebelling against Assad’s regime.
“They are turning a blind eye to the fact that civilians have been killed“, said Erdogan.
At a recent press conference, US President Barack Obama said, “The problem here is Assad and the brutality that he’s inflicted on the Syrian people, and it has to stop”.
The Russian propaganda machine responded.
The Islamic State, as well as the other rebel groups fighting in Syria, are not known to have any air power, but USA warplanes regularly fly over the country attacking Islamic State targets. Pro-Kremlin bloggers and Internet trolls on the payroll of the authorities immediately exposed numerous “lies” by foreign journalists.
According to the foreign minister, the information obtained by Cairo in the course of direct contacts with Moscow, “demonstrates the attention Russian Federation pays to the fight against terrorism and the limitation of its spread in Syria”.
RT’s website published an op-ed column by Neil Clark, a British journalist.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, said the Raqqa strikes took place overnight Thursday and were among 18 sorties conducted over the previous 24 hours, raising to 30 the number of raids since Moscow began its air campaign in Syria.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition has carried out 16 more air strikes against IS militants, weapons and buildings in Syria and Iraq over the weekend. But at the same time, there is an effort to re-engage Russian Federation on the diplomatic track.
There is something ludicrous about the debate in Britain about whether or not to join in an air campaign in Syria without mentioning that it has so far demonstrably failed in its objectives.
Anonymous USA officials told The Daily Beast Thursday that America’s hands are tied when it comes to protecting its Syrian allies who are now being targeted by Russian airstrikes.
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As for the Russian propaganda outlets trying to shift public opinion in the West, Gatov said their influence was too weak to change anything.
