Russia strikes IS sites
Putin, Obama try to avert major conflict
RUSSIAN warplanes had carried out new rounds of air strikes in Syria, hitting 12 Islamic State targets.
The Russian Defence Ministry said 18 sorties had been carried out, which had hit a command post and communications centre in the province of Aleppo.
The strikes had also targeted a militant field camp in Idlib and had destroyed infrastructure used to prepare “terrorists”.
A command post in the province of Hama was also completely destroyed, it said.
Russia estimates its air strike campaign in Syria could last three to four months, Alexei Pushkov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said.
Pushkov was speaking a few hours before Putin was due to meet leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine in Paris for talks about Ukraine which were likely to be overshadowed by the conflict in Syria.
Pushkov said the strikes mainly targeted Islamic State forces in spite of reports they had concentrated on opponents to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
US sources have said the Russians actually hit facilities of a US-backed group, some of whose rebels received training and support from the CIA.
Russia, which launched its first air strikes on Wednesday, has been supporting Assad’s regime since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama discussed the crisis on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Monday and agreed to talks to avert military clashes by parallel air campaigns.
This is the first time the two Cold War superpowers have engaged in combat over the same country for the first time since the end of World War 2.
Hundreds of Iranian troops have also arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive in support of Assad’s government, a sign the civil war is turning still more regional and global in scope.
Pushkov also said Russian submarines with nuclear missile launching capabilities patrolling the Atlantic were a “response” to Nato plans to build up its operations in Eastern Europe.
“These are the rules of the game; so this is a response,” Pushkov said. — Reuters