On Wednesday, a few U.S.-backed rebel groups claimed they were hit by Russian airstrikes but those claims could not be confirmed.
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The Russian defence ministry said the country’s air force had targeted IS military equipment, communication facilities, arms depots, ammunition and fuel supplies – and did not hit civilian infrastructure or areas nearby.
“Russian and Syrian airplanes carried out numerous strikes today against terrorist positions in Hama, Homs and Latakia provinces”, the source said on Wednesday.
Russia on Wednesday launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first overseas military engagement in almost four decades after Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin permission to use force abroad.
He said Moscow must act pre-emptively to destroy jihadists in Syria before they presented a threat closer to home.
The Russian attacks occured before both Washington and Moscow could talk on how to avert clashes between different militaries.
“Over the coming weeks”, he said, the United States and its allies will “dramatically accelerate our efforts”, including ongoing airstrikes against the Islamic State in northeastern Syria, where the United States has aided Kurdish efforts to clear the Syria-Turkey border from Iraq to the Euphrates River. USA and Israeli officials were especially alarmed by Russia’s deployment of anti-aircraft systems, given that ISIS doesn’t have any planes.
The primary goal of these talks will be to avoid any inadvertent incidents between USA and Russian forces.
The Homs area is crucial to President Bashar al-Assad’s control of western Syria.
Earnest said the new action “calls into question their strategy, because when President Putin and President Obama had the opportunity to meet at the United Nations earlier this week much of their discussion was focused on the need for a political transition inside Syria”.
Fabius said any air strikes must target IS and other “terrorist groups, not civilians or the moderate opposition”.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Carter said the Russian actions will not deter the U.S.-led air war on Islamic State fighters that’s been under way for a year.
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Russia’s air strikes were its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. “We have conducted a number of strikes against ISIL targets in Syria over the past 24 hours, including just an hour ago, and these strikes will continue”.
