Russian Federation pounding non-ISIL targets in Syria

Russian air strikes in Syria have weakened the Islamic State jihadist organisation and other armed groups and strengthened the military, the Syrian armed forces chief of staff said Thursday.

At least 4 Russian missiles aimed at Syria crashed in Iran, according to US officials.

According to the Syrian official, the government push is concentrated in the adjacent provinces of Hama and Idlib where rebels have been advancing in the past months.

Turok claimed numerous fighters have left eastern Ukraine for Syria to support Moscow’s intervention in the country, which the West says could bolster the embattled Assad regime.

Iraq’s government and powerful Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias question the United States’ resolve in fighting Islamic State militants, who control a third of the country, saying U.S.-led coalition air strikes are ineffective.

It said the three – a field hospital in northern Hama governorate, an ambulance depot and emergency response center in rural Idlib, and a hospital in northern Latakia – were each more than 30 miles away from the nearest ISIS-controlled territory.

“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”.

Mr Shoigu also said Russian Federation has carried out 112 air strikes on IS positions since its operation began on September 30.

Their trajectory probably would have taken the missiles over the airspace of Iran and Iraq, two nations whose leaders have been supportive of the Russian aerial onslaught in Syria.

At the same time, Moscow has strong financial interests in the Sunni Arab world, which it regards as a lucrative market for exporting Russian nuclear power technology – particularly to Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey.

Spy agencies had carefully tracked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s build-up of military assets and personnel in Syria in recent weeks, prompting White House criticism and demands for Moscow to explain itself.

Turkey said Syria-based missile systems harassed its warplanes on Tuesday while eight F-16 jets were on a patrol flight along the Syria border.

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

“During my latest visit to Paris, the French president, Mr Hollande, voiced an interesting idea, that, in his view, we could possibly try to join forces of the army of the government – the army of President Assad – and the so-called Free Syrian Army”.

Russian ships stationed in the south Caspian Sea participating in military strikes in Syria have been firing cruise missiles.

“What is going on in Syria of course is of importance for NATO because we see that Russian Federation is testing a few of their most modern weapons”, Stoltenberg said on Thursday at a press conference at the headquarters of NATO where defence ministers of the organisation’s member states are meeting.

Admitting that the Americans are rational people who wouldn’t waste their efforts, Bogatyrev said that it is impossible for the USA to achieve their objectives by the targeted airstrikes alone, as the IS employs an elaborated system of operational disguise, tactical disguise, misleading actions.

The Pentagon says at least one USA military aircraft changed its route over Syria recently to avoid coming dangerously close to Russian warplanes.