President Barack Obama said the USA has reached an agreement with Russian Federation to avoid clashes in the skies as their air forces conduct bombing raids in Syria, though he added that the world powers remain far apart in their approach to the conflict.
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“Military operations against the terrorist groups continue along with intensive air strikes carried out by Syrian air force and benefiting from the results of Russian strikes”, it said.
Syrian Television reported that the ground attack by government troops was continuing Friday in the north and north west of Homs, mainly in the villages of Talibsseh and Khalidiyeh, which the broadcaster called “main hideouts of the terrorist groups” – a term referring to rebel fighters.
The state-news agency SANA reported army troops began a ground offensive in the area.
It said its latest strikes hit 49 targets, including a suicide bomber training camp.
Sometimes wiping away tears when talking about the war, Dzhinid, who heads the Syrian Association in Russian Federation, and his wife Roxana wholeheartedly embrace Assad’s view that no armed opposition to the regime is moderate and all should be destroyed along with the jihadists.
“Where ever you look (in Syria), you will find hard-to-reach people”, he said, listing off areas that are besieged by government forces or controlled by militants.
Russian jets have flown more than 600 combat sorties since the start of the air campaign, said Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, of the Russian military’s general staff. A United States official said as many as 2,000 fighters from Iran and its regional allies were supporting the army’s offensive in coordination with Russian Federation.
He shrugged off the U.S. claim that four of the 26 cruise missiles launched at targets in Syria by Russian navy ships from the southern part of the Caspian Sea had crashed on Iranian territory.
Russian warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes in Syria since September 30, but the US-led coalition has been targeting the Nusra Front and ISIS for more than a year.
Obama said he believed in continuing the fight against the Islamic State and other extremist groups, but said the civil war “will only go away if we’re able to get a political track and a legitimate inclusive government inside of Syria”.
And the UN’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told AFP that the increasing air strikes on the country were putting aid supply routes at risk. “Following this, a decision is made on which objects we should target”, he said.
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A Russian Defence Ministry picture release on Wednesday shows a warship launching missiles. Even if he could prop up Assad for a while, the dictator will never again rule all of Syria. He was a veteran commander who had an important role in Iran’s 1980-88 war with Iraq and was among top Iranian commanders coordinating fighting in Syria. Meanwhile the control of Aleppo, which is home to two million innocent civilians, is now divided between President Bashar al-Assad’s administration and the rebels.
