President Obama vowed Friday that Russian air strikes in Syria would not draw the United States into a “proxy war”, even as he acknowledged that the strikes would strengthen the position of the Islamic State.
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This image taken in Wednesday, September 30, 2015 posted on the Twitter account of Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, a volunteer search and rescue group, shows the aftermath of an airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria.
Reiterating that the U.S.is ready to work with any party to stop the humanitarian disaster in Syria, Obama said it would be possible only if Assad leaves power.
But it was concern over the potential of Moscow to focus on groups other than ISIL that prompted a response Friday from a U.S.-led coalition, which also carries out airstrikes in the strife-torn country, calling on Moscow to immediately cease attacks on Syria’s opposition.
But several military sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said Russian Federation had hit areas controlled by groups other than IS.
“Iran and Assad make up Mr. Putin’s coalition at the moment”.
The Obama administration – blindsided by the speed of Moscow’s direct intervention and a Russian target list that included CIA-trained fighters – made clear yesterday that it had no desire to increase the risk of an air clash between the former Cold War foes.
More than 50 Russian warplanes and helicopters are part of the group conducting airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, Konashenkov said, according to the Interfax news agency.
“We’re analyzing where the strikes are going every morning”, said Fallon. But after the airstrikes began, the US said Russian planes were instead targeting areas held by rebel forces opposed to Assad rather than ISIS terrorists.
In a joint statement with the U.S., 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. “We see eye-to-eye with the coalition on this one”, he said using another acronym for Daesh.
Russia’s defence ministry said its second day of bombing had hit five IS targets, including a command post in northwest Idlib province.
The pro-Syrian Lebanese television broadcaster Al Mayadeen reported that at least 30 Russian air raids had been carried out on the outskirts of Jisr al-Shoghur and Hama.
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In his speech Friday at the United Nations General Assembly, Syrian Foreign Minister Moualem said his government would participate in United Nations working groups to reach a peace deal, but also said it could not implement democratic reforms related to elections or the constitution while “fighting terrorism”.
