Russian air strikes on Syria kill over 3,000

Reports say two thirds of those killed are civilians and opposition fighters, while Moscow says it is specifically targeting ISIL

BEIRUT // Russian air strikes have killed 1,015 civilians in Syria since they began about four months ago, a monitoring group said yesterday.

The civilian toll, which dates from when raids started on September 30, includes more than 200 children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, said the strikes had also killed 893 ISIL fighters, and 1,141 other opposition militants, including members of Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra.

Russia said it was targeting ISIL and other “terrorist” groups. US and French defence ministers yesterday condemned Moscow’s role in the conflict, saying Russian jets should stop targeting opposition forces fighting ISIL. “The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also, in some cases, tactically,” said US defence secretary Ashton Carter.

Mr Carter’s French counterpart, Jean- Yves Le Drian, said: “We hope that Russia will concentrate its efforts against Daesh and stop bombing the groups of the uprising [against Syrian president Bashar Al Assad] who themselves are fighting Daesh.”

Also yesterday, Syria’s largest opposition coalition named a political leader of the militant group Jaish Al Islam as its chief negotiator for peace talks due to start on January 25 in Geneva.

The coalition has appointed Mohammed Alloush, whose group is backed by Saudi Arabia, as its chief negotiator, while Asaad Al Zoabi, a general who defected from the army, has been appointed head of the delegation.

Syrian National Council chief George Sabra will serve as his deputy.

A 33-member opposition “su- preme committee” was formed at a landmark meeting in Riyadh last month of Syria’s main political and armed opposition groups.

Riad Hijab, the coalition’s general coordinator, insisted that the supreme committee’s delegation should be the only opposition representative at the talks.

“We will not go to negotiations if a third party or person is added,” he said.

“We [also] cannot go to negotiations with our people dying of hunger and under shelling” by pro-regime forces.

Countries pushing for a peace deal for Syria, including the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have struggled to agree on the list of opposition delegates. Moscow wants the participation of Damascus-tolerated opposition groups.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that the peace talks were expected to begin within a few days. Mr Lavrov, who met his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich yesterday in an attempt to give momentum to peace talks, rejected suggestions that the negotiations might be delayed until February amid disagreements over who will represent the opposition.

“We are sure that in the next few days, in January, these talks should begin,” he said.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, for his part, said there could be no military solution to the war in Syria.

Speaking just days after Iran sealed a historic deal ending punishing sanctions by the West over its nuclear programme, Mr Zarif said Iran was now determined to help to end a conflict in Syria that has killed more than 250,000 people.

“We need a political solution. Everyone must understand that,” he said.