Russian Federation targets ‘anti-Asad’ militants in first ever aerialstrike in Syria

U.S. Senator John McCain on Thursday said Russia’s initial air strikes in Syria targeted recruits in the Free Syrian Army rebel group backed by the United States. The jets carried out at least 30 strikes targeting the “Army of Conquest”, it said in a newsflash.

“As a second step, they will spread extremism, because when the war becomes a global one against the Syrian people, it will not retreat from its goals, and there will be fertile ground to attract foreign fighters to fight the Russians”, Zoubi said.

Moscow had insisted that it was only targeting Isis militants in Syria, but on Thursday the line appeared to change, with a spokesman for Vladimir Putin saying that Russian Federation was going after a list of groups in addition to Isis.

USA officials complained to the Russian military on Thursday that Russian airstrikes in Syria are targeting areas of the country where few, if any, Islamic State fighters are operating.

The area – Jisr al-Shughour is under the control of an alliance of insurgents including al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.

Assad’s foreign foes include Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Their demands for anti-aircraft weapons have gone unanswered.

Syrian state media reported that, “Russian aircraft, in cooperation with the Syrian army’s air force, launched on Wednesday a number of airstrikes against ISIS dens in Rastan, Talbisah, al-Zaafran, al-Tolol al-Humr, Aydon, Deir Fol and the area surrounding Salmia in the central region in Syria”. The capture of the airbase by ISIL forces in August 2014 was seen as a major blow for the Syrian military. The Syrians trained and equipped by the US have primarily been operating in the north.

Fueling the concerns is the fact that Russian Federation has aircraft in Syria with air-to-air combat capacity, even though IS has no air force and the only aircraft in the skies belong to U.S.-led coalition or the Syrian government.

US officials said the issue is one of many being hashed out by top leaders within the department and the military’s Joint Staff. One official said they are weighing the potential fallout. “But after this Iranian aggression, and now the Russian aggression, what political solution are you talking about?” This is the most important point: “we have lost confidence in the world, even in the (the concept of) a political initiative”, he said.

“It destroyed all the initiatives of the global community”.