Russia’s Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian aircraft damaged or destroyed 12 targets in Syria belonging to the Islamic State group including a command cent re and two ammunition depots.
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“Their initial strikes were against the individuals and the groups that have been funded and trained by our Central Intelligence Agency”, McCain told CNN, adding that the move showed Moscow’s real priority: to “prop up” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Fresh Russian air strikes Thursday targeted bases held by a powerful Islamist rebel coalition including Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in northwest Syria, a Syrian security source said.
She says the Russian airstrikes come in response to an “official request by Syria’s government from the Russian Federation”.
The Russian attacks occurred before Moscow and Washington had begun agreed talks on averting clashes between different militaries in the theater of battle.
Instead, Carter said the strikes highlight a contradiction in Russia’s approach.
“But we must not and will not be confused in our fight against Isil with support for Assad“.
“It makes Russian Federation look strong, and it helps Mr. Putin at home… there’s a very high economic cost to that, of course, but it sells”.
A doctor in the town of Rastan said: “We have been exposed to a wide range of weapons over the last five years, but what happened today was absolutely the most violent and ferocious, and the most comprehensive in the northern Homs countryside”. “What happens in the Middle East will tie in with their ambitions in terms of energy, in terms of relations, and so he’s playing with a rather weak set of cards but he’s playing them extremely well”. Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011 with forces loyal to Assad having been fighting several opposition factions and numerous militant groups, including IS.
For US Secretary of State John Kerry one of those details concerns Russia’s targets – ISIL and possibly Syrian rebels?
The development came as Russian military jets carried out airstrikes in Syria on yesterday for the first time.
In Paris, Russian Ambassador Alexander Orlov insisted that Russian warplanes in Syria were hitting at the same extremists targeted by the United States and denied American claims that its military failed to coordinate the airstrikes, describing the allegations as a “war of disinformation”. It has requested the US embassy in Baghdad to avoid the Russian flying missions in Syrian airspace that was launched Wednesday.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday no ground troops will be deployed in Syria, and pushing for the government in Damascus to reach an agreement with opposition forces. Turkey Backs: The U.S.-backed coalition and, tacitly, rebel forces in Syria.
