Russia fires missiles as Syria goes on offensive

BEIRUT—Russia dramatically escalated its air war in Syria on Wednesday, unleashing heavy bombardments and cruise missile strikes from the Caspian Sea as cover for a major Syrian Army ground offensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had begun synchronizing its strikes with the Army’s ground movements against rebels, as the Kremlin voiced willingness to make contact with fighters backed by Washington and its allies.

Putin, who turned 63 on Wednesday, said Russian warships had fired cruise missiles on Islamic State (IS) group positions in Syria for the first time.

A Syrian military source said government troops had begun a broad ground operation near the village of Latmeen in Hama province, aided by Russian air cover.

The Syrian Armed Forces chief of staff said on Thursday that the Russian air strikes succeeded in weakening the Islamic State and other armed groups, while helping strengthen the Syrian military.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 40 Russian air strikes in Hama and neighboring Idlib province, which is controlled by the powerful Army of Conquest alliance that includes al-Qaida affiliate alNusra Front.

The Britain-based Observatory said “many raids, believed to be from Russian warplanes, killed six people” in- cluding two children in Maaret al-Numan in Idlib.

Russia said its forces had hit 112 targets since its operations in Syria began on Sept. 30.

But Syrian rebels and their backers said a range of opposition fighters, not just jihadists, had been hit.

“Greater than 90 percent of the [Russian] strikes that we’ve seen them take to date have not been against IS or al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists,” US state department spokesperson John Kirby said. “They’ve been largely against opposition groups that want a better future for Syria and don’t want to see the Assad regime stay in power.”

Tension between Russia and the United States has been escalating, with US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter insisting that Washington is not cooperating with Russia over its air campaign.

“I have said before that we believed that Russia has the wrong strategy… they continue to hit targets that are not IS. We believe this is a fundamental mistake,” said Carter.

A Pentagon spokesperson said USled coalition aircraft had been rerouted on at least one occasion to avoid any confrontation with Russian warplanes over Syria.

Also, French President Francois Hollande warned that failure to act in Syria risked “total war” in the Middle East.

“If we leave these religious clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, they will grow. Don’t think we will be sheltered… this will be a total war,” he said in a speech to the European Parliament.