If there are a few forces that also have weapons in their hands and are on the ground fighting, as the coalition says, with the Islamic State, and they should not be touched, then wonderful, Ms. Zakharova said.
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In a sign that Russia was ramping up its involvement, Shoigu said that four Russian warships had hit sites in Syria yesterday with cruise missiles.
The BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut says that Russian air strikes seem to be mostly hitting other Syrian opposition forces which pose more of a threat to the Moscow-backed Syrian government.
News of the advance came as the United States announced it was largely abandoning its failed program to train moderate rebels fighting Islamic State and would instead provide arms and equipment directly to rebel leaders and their units on the battlefield.
It was not clear whether the missile strike was coordinated with the ground offensive, which was reported by antigovernment activists and insurgents around the central province of Hama, as well as by the television station of Hezbollah, an ally of Syria based in Lebanon.
Russian Federation has carried out its most intense raids in Syria so far in its 10-day air and sea bombing campaign. “Today we are expecting a reply from our colleagues and we hope they will tell us about those targets which they have,” he said.
General Hossein Hamedani was reportedly advising President Bashar Assad’s army on its fight against the militant group.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it wanted to inform its partners with “links to the Free Syrian Army of the Russian side’s readiness to establish contacts with the leadership of this structure”.
That contrasted with claims made on Tuesday by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov that Russia had agreed with U.S. proposals on flight safety.
“Iranian news agency Tasnim said Hamedani was functioning in Syria in “an advisory capacity” when he was killed by “[infidel] terrorists” – a euphemism for radical Sunni militants.
The strikes also destroyed six command posts and communication centres, six ammunition depots, 17 training camps, three underground targets in Latakia, two multiple artillery rocket systems and 17 vehicles and armoured vehicles, among other targets, the military said.
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Matthew Rycroft told a group of reporters on Wednesday that “Russia’s military action is a significant escalation of this crisis”.
