“It’s absolutely clear that Russian Federation is not discriminating between ISIL [Daesh] and the legitimate Syrian opposition groups and, as a result, they are actually backing the butcher Assad and helping him”, he said.
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“The problem here is Assad and the brutality that he’s inflicted on the Syrian people, and it has to stop”, Obama said at a White House press conference. The area is held by anti-Assad rebels, but has no significant presence of Islamic State fighters.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem addressed a United Nations gathering of world leaders Friday as the worldwide community scrambled to respond to Russia’s new airstrikes in his country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised comments that initial reports of civilian deaths due to the Russian airstrikes appeared before the strikes started.
Russia’s air campaign in Syria entered a fourth day on Saturday, with warplanes launching a number of attacks on positions of “Islamic State”, including the IS stronghold of Raqqa, according to Russian news agencies and a Britain-based group monitoring Syria’s civil war.
In an interview with the Sun newspaper, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the vast majority of Russian air strikes were not aimed at the militant group at all.
Ten armored vehicles and a factory for manufacturing bombs have been destroyed in Marat al-Numan area in Idlib, said the TV, adding that a command center was also destroyed in Khan Shaihun town in Idilb countryside.
It questioned whether Russia’s primary concern is attacking ISIS or propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Putin’s forces carried out 20 air strikes on Friday, hitting nine Isis targets including a command post and weapons bunker, Russia’s defence ministry said.
“We think that this theory is losing, it will lead (Russia) into a quagmire”, – Obama said.
Hollande laid out France’s conditions for supporting Russian intervention, which include a halt to strikes on groups other than ISIL and al Qaeda, protections for civilians and a commitment to a political transition that would remove Assad.
“Last night, Russian strikes on the western edges of Raqa city, and near the Tabqa military airport, killed 12 IS jihadists”, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
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On Friday, Pushkov also said Russian submarines with nuclear missile launching capabilities patrolling the Atlantic were a “response” to NATO’s plans to build up its operations in Eastern Europe.
