Russia bombs Syria rebels for second day
RUSSIA carried out fresh air strikes in Syria yesterday as Moscow admitted the attacks were not confined to Islamic State murderers.
Kremlin ministers said its fighter planes flattened four IS targets including an ammunition depot and a suicide bomb factory.
But Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said they were targeting a broader range of “terror groups” than the Raqqa- based IS.
Critics will see the admission as proof that Putin’s real motive is to destroy all President Bashar Assad’s political rivals.
Russia and the United States agreed to hold talks yesterday in a bid to prevent the conflict escalating.
Moscow said the second wave of strikes were again carried out by Sukhoi- 24m and Sukhoi- 25 fighters over north- western Syria.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were targeting more than one group on a list which included IS.
Only 24 hours earlier, Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff, insisted that the attacks were specifically intended to support Mr Putin speaking in Moscow and, right, a vehicle blazes after an attack on rebels yesterday Syria’s war with IS. Yesterday’s raids had targeted accurately the depot near Idlib and an IS command centre at Hama.
Satellites and drones were used to blast with pinpoint precision a depot in Homs, the second city, which was used to turn cars into mobile suicide bombs.
Mr Putin claimed that they avoided densely- populated areas and accused anyone alleg- ing civilian casualties of launching an “information attack” on Russia.
US Senator John McCain said Moscow’s planes fired on the American- backed Free Syrian Army. “They were strikes against our Free Syrian Army recruits that have been armed and trained by the CIA,” he said.
Hassan Haj Ali, a Syrian army captain who commands the Liwa Suqour al- Jabal rebels, said his camp in Idlib was hit by 20 missiles. As concern grew about potential for conflict between Moscow and Washington, figures on both sides spoke of the need to communicate.
Some 150,000 conscripts were drafted into the Russian military yesterday. Putin’s spokesman insisted the move had nothing to do with Syria.