Turkey has protested the violations, backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance to which it belongs, and warned Russian Federation against losing its friendship with Ankara, which has been severely tested over Syria.
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Today, Syrian rebels are claiming to have forced down a Russian helicopter.
Even as its ships and warplanes conducted fresh strikes, Russian Federation said it was willing to cooperate with the United States in carrying out attacks in Syria.
Ayyoub provided no details of the area in which the offensive is being launched or its size and scope. USA officials say that effort is having more success with its goals than the one run by the military, which only trained militants willing to promise to take on the Islamic State exclusively.
“The fact that we launched precision weapons from the Caspian Sea to the distance of about 1,500 kilometers and hit all the designated targets shows good work by military industrial plants and good skills of personnel”, Putin said.
“By expressing such an idea, Gerashchenko has intentionally defied the countries that are incessantly fighting the terrorist threat”, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry statement said that the new Kalibr-NK cruise missiles all struck within nine feet of their intended targets in Syria.
Officials say the administration’s policy is being readjusted to focus instead on equipping, arming and supporting already-established Kurdish and Arab rebel groups in the ground war against the Islamic State, the extremist outfit also known as ISIS and ISIL that continues to control a vast swath of territory spanning the Syria and Iraq border.
“From the very start of this bombing campaign, the Russians have strongly denied causing any civilian casualties”.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps said separately that one of its generals had been killed near Aleppo, once Syria’s most populous city.
Heavy fighting was concentrated in the rural parts of Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces – areas of operation for an array of insurgent groups that includes the Nusra Front. The rebels repulsed government troops, al-Ahmad said.
But according to Washington, more than 90 percent of Russia’s strikes have targeted the moderate opposition.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said rebels were able to destroy two tanks and an armored personnel carrier in northern Hama province near Idlib.
The Observatory said 37 Russian air raids hit on Wednesday alone. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said a senior general, Hossein Hamedani, was killed near Aleppo late on Thursday. A Russian official has called for broader talks on cooperation in the Syrian conflict.
“It’s being refocused to enhance its effectiveness”, the official said.
“The USA has to take the driving seat,” he said.
“They’ve been largely against opposition groups that want a better future for Syria and don’t want to see the Assad regime stay in power”. “We believe that is a fundamental mistake”.
The US military recently had to divert an aircraft over Syria to ensure it could maintain a safe flying distance from a Russian fighter, a Pentagon representative said.
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Adding to growing concern in the West about Russia’s motives and actions in Syria, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu alleged that just two out of 57 Russian strikes examined by Turkish intelligence had hit IS.
