Assad said the Islamic extremists who have trained in Syria were only able to do so thanks to “the support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qatari, and of course the Western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”.
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All 224 people aboard the plane, mostly Russian tourists, were killed.
The Russian military has destroyed numerous oil facilities and tankers controlled by ISIS in Syria, sharply cutting its income, Russia’s defense minister said Friday.
Meanwhile, President Obama, galvanized in part by the Paris attacks, continued to insist Thursday that the only way to end Syria’s five-year-long civil war is to remove Assad from office. The U.S.-led coalition does not coordinate with Damascus however.
Shoigu said the strikes this week inflicted significant casualties on IS, including more than 600 militants killed in just one strike in the province of Deir el-Zour.
It was the second time that warships have been used since the start of the bombing campaign on September 30.
Russian television broadcast a video in which a man is seen scrawling “For our people!’ and ‘For Paris!’ in black pen on aerial bombs minutes before a warplane is set to take off from the country’s airbase in Syria”.
Unverified images circulated on the Internet of Syria-bound USA missiles bearing the handwritten inscription “From Paris with love”.
Flights operating out of Beirut airport will continue unaffected despite a notice of planned Russian naval drills in the Mediterranean, airport official Ibrahim Abu Alioun said on Friday.
At the United Nations, member states called for action against Isis a week after 130 were killed in Paris.
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The resolution, which does not provide a legal basis for military action, urges those countries which can to “take all necessary measures, in compliance with global law… on the territory under the control of ISIL (Daesh)… in Syria and Iraq”. He said this deprived ISIS of $1.5 million in daily income from oil sales.
