He said he hoped Putin would come to realize that allying Russian Federation with Iran to try to keep Assad in power “is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire, and it won’t work”.
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The US and its allies are also carrying out airstrikes in Syria, targeting the Islamic State.
“Six strikes were conducted on targets of the ISIS terrorist group in 14 flights by Sukhoi Su-34, Sukhoi Su-24M and Sukhoi Su-25 jets”, the defence ministry said in a statement. “This is a conflict between the Syrian people and a brutal, ruthless dictator”, President Obama said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that, over the previous 24 hours, Russian air strikes had damaged or destroyed 12 targets in Syria belonging to Islamic State (IS) fighters, including a command center and ammunition depots.
In a joint statement with the USA, Britain, France, Germany and Gulf Arab allies, Turkey said Russia’s actions constituted a “further escalation” of the conflict and would only fuel more extremism.
He said the Russian side made clear that strikes in Syria would continue, while the American representative “noted US concerns that areas targeted so far are not ISIL [Islamic State] strongholds”.
Despite Russia’s actions, Fallon insisted the British government would make the case to extend the RAF’s strikes, saying it would be “morally wrong” not to target ISIS in Syria. “The rest of the world makes up ours”, Obama said.
In Raqa, where IS militants have carried out a few of the mass beheadings that they infamously use as online propaganda, activists and residents said the group cancelled Friday prayers and emptied mosques because they feared more Russian strikes.
British intelligence services observed that only five per cent of Russian air strikes had attacked the IS group, with most “killing civilians” and Free Syrian forces fighting Assad, Fallon told the tabloid.
French President Francois Hollande met with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to express concerns about the airstrikes.
The Russian airstrikes targeted positions of the so-called Jaish al-Fateh, or the Conquer Army, in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.
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It doesn’t address a potential attack by Russian planes and does not include Syrian rebels who have not been through the United States military training, even though they may be aligned with the U.S. or IS.
