Russian Federation has been under fire lately, with accusations that though its operations are targeting extremist groups, a lot of civilians are being killed in the process. The government forces aim to advance in the direction of the ISIS capital in the coming days. “In general, the Raqqa front is open… starting in the direction of the Tabqa area”, the source said.
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“Russian air attack has caused attrition against the opposition”, he said.
Their comments came after the publication of an interview with President Assad, where the Syrian leader said his armed forces would try to retake the entire country “without hesitation”.
Further complicating the picture, Turkey’s foreign minister said his country and Saudi Arabia may launch ground operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, Turkish media reported Saturday. However, when asked to assess the chances of the deal succeeding, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answered “49 percent” in Munich Saturday.
This week, major world powers agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria and to the delivery of immediate aid. “If that is what Russian Federation and Assad think, then I believe they would have been missing the lessons of the last five years”. “There are thousands of them in Syria”, he said.
But US state department spokesman Mark Toner said Mr Assad was “deluded” if he thought there was a military solution to the conflict.
Reports from state television and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the forces had captured Tamoura and were now overlooking the town of Hayan and parts of the town of Anadan.
The Islamic State group has taken over a swath of Syria from the east up to the northwest, linked to its territory in neighboring Iraq.
He said the timing of a mission for troops on the ground had yet to be worked out.
He said Saudi Arabia was “ready to send both jets and troops” to Turkey’s Incirlik air base.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in a head-to-head debate with Medvedev, also pressed Russian Federation to stop bombing civilians in Syria.
Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.
US President Barack Obama has told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to stop air strikes against moderate Syrian rebels, says the White House. “Almost every day we are accused of making new frightful threats either against North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as a whole, against Europe or against the USA or other countries”, Medvedev said.
“There is no evidence of our bombing civilians, even though everyone is accusing us of this”, he said.
However, Dean noted that the main reason behind the deal is Russia’s military campaign in Syria, conducted upon a request by Damascus since September previous year.
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“To date, the vast majority of Russia’s attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups”, Kerry said. Stent says, the challenge going ahead is to make sure Russian Federation follows through on its agreement to push for a pause in fighting and more humanitarian access. But it has lost ground in both countries because of airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition and advances by Kurdish fighters.
