Syrian targets hit by Russian long-range bombers and cruise missiles on Tuesday included the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa.
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“Actions speak louder than words, and I think… we’re just not ready to… make a call right now that would say they’ve changed their calculus in terms of what they’re hitting”, Kirby added.
The quickening political process came as French President Francois Hollande vowed to pursue IS mercilessly for their “acts of war” and Russia sought vengeance after finally confirming it believed a bomb attack did bring down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month that killed 224 people.
The Britain-based watchdog group said these families claim that Mosul, which is also under IS control, was safer than al-Raqqa, which has been heavily pounded by French air strikes following the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that claimed at least 129 lives and for which the terror group claimed responsibility.
More broadly, the Raqqa airstrikes are renewing a debate about how effective such attacks can be in defeating or containing the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, without more commitment to measures like drying up its financial support, combating its ideology or – what outside forces on all sides so far appear to have ruled out – conducting a ground assault.
Meanwhile, 10 French fighter jets will carry out a fresh wave of airstrikes in Syria according to their defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
President Vladimir Putin told Russian state media said he had “even showed our (G20) colleagues our images taken from space and planes which clearly show the scope that illegal trade in oil and oil products acquires: convoys of fuel transporters stretching by dozens of kilometers”.
The activist declined to be identified for security reasons.
Abdeslam, 26, is wanted for allegedly driving three attackers to the Bataclan concert venue, where they killed at least 89 people. A Syrian government supporter from Raqqa who now lives in Beirut and describes himself as a kind of freelance informant for government forces, said there had always been airstrikes in or around Raqqa almost every day.
“The skies of Raqqa were crowded with warplanes yesterday”, said a member of the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently. The newest Russian strikes have been probably the most in depth assaults by Moscow on Raqqa.
US President Barack Obama said that he is ready to work with Russian Federation provided the latter focuses on destroying the IS.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he would gladly help France in the fight against Islamic State (IS), if France stops backing rebels against his regime. Also complicating the worldwide effort is the disagreement between Russian Federation and the United States over whom and what to target. The official said the Russian strikes are not affecting coalition operations against ISIS in any way.
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Last week’s capture by Kurdish forces of the Iraqi town of Sinjar near the Syrian border cut off one main route connecting Raqqa to IS holdings in Iraq, making movement of fighters and supplies more hard. Shortly afterward, IS banned people leaving the city and activists said it has stepped up enforcement of the ban in the past few days, leading to fears the group intends to use civilians as human shields in future fighting.
