Russian jets continued a second day of airstrikes in Syria, targeting not only Islamic State militant extremists but also fighters backed by the United States, some observers say.

Russia’s defense minister said, in a televised report, that Russian aircraft had hit a dozen Islamic State targets, including a command center and two ammunition depots, the Associated Press reported.

But the Kremlin acknowledged it also was taking aim at “a list” of groups beyond the extremist group.

“These organizations are well known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.

His words contradicted a statement Wednesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff that raids were solely meant to aid Syria’s government in fighting the Islamic State

Airstrikes on Thursday pounded areas where the U.S.-backed rebel group Tajamu Alezzah is operating, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to the Associated Press.

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York, had said Wednesday that American and Russian militaries would hold talks as soon as possible, maybe Thursday, to avoid encountering each other in Syria.

At the Pentagon Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the American-led coalition would continue its airstrike campaign and, with other countries, exert even more pressure againt the Islamic State militants.

He also said Russian airstrikes in Syria hit areas that “probably” did not contain Islamic State.

“It does appear [the strikes] were in areas where there were probably not ISIL forces,” Carter said, referring to an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

An unnamed Pentagon source told VOA that the extremist group is concentrated in the cities of Raqqa and Aleppo and the eastern city of Deir al-Zour. In contrast, many fighters and other opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are in Homs.

“By deduction, we can tell the strikes are not anti-ISIL,” the source said.

‘War of disinformation’

Russian officials initially insisted their warplanes were hitting at the same extremists targeted by the United States and contradicted American criticism that its military failed to coordinate the airstrikes, describing the allegations as a “war of disinformation.”

Alexander Orlov, the Russian ambassador to France, said Moscow’s intervention came only after a year of airstrikes by the U.S. and its partners failed to dislodge Islamic State extremists, and predicted that Syria could be ready for “free elections” within a year. Russia’s military said it carried out 20 airstrikes Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its warplanes on Wednesday targeted and destroyed eight positions belonging to extremists from the IS group in what President Vladimir Putin called a pre-emptive strike against the militants.

The ministry gave no specific locations, but Orlov said the targets were installations for Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria – “two terrorist organizations recognized as such.” Orlov told France Info radio the planes were acting as air support for Syrian ground troops, and criticized the effectiveness of anti-IS oeprations to date.

“We see that this coalition has been operating in Syria for a year, 5,000 airstrikes have been carried out, and Islamic State is still there,” Orlov added.

Dangerous new dimension

With American and allied airstrikes daily, and now Russian warplanes in the Syrian airspace, the war is taking on a dangerous new dimension.

Orlov said Russian officials warned the Americans “via confidential channels” of where they planned to strike. He also noted a coordination center was being set up in Baghdad that would include Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians and Russians – and any other country that wants to participate.

Khaled Khoja, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said at the U.N. that Russian airstrikes in four areas, including Talbiseh, killed 36 civilians, with five children among the dead.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria Wednesday, just hours after  lawmakers gave Putin the permission to deploy Russian military forces there.

Russia’s decision to begin airstrikes in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime “is tantamount to pouring gasoline on the fire” of that country’s four-year civil war, Pentagon chief Carter said.

Some material for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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