Russia’s Putin, Saudi Defense Minister Agree to Cooperate in Syria

“Let’s not throw stones at it. It is one of the most powerful [intelligence services], but even it does not know everything, “Putin said, commenting on the words of popular Russian TV journalist Vladimir Solovyov saying that the U.S. intelligence has stopped working after Russia launched its missiles in Syria”.

The plain links Hama to the northwestern rebel-controlled Idlib province and is adjacent to Latakia province, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad and the Alawite religious minority to which he belongs.

But exactly how they’re doing that remains a point of contention: Are Russians really focused on pummeling ISIS, or are they targeting Syrian rebels demanding an end to the Assad dynasty?

The Syrian army had made advances from the towns of Mourek and Atshan in Hama province using tanks, heavy artillery and new surface-to-surface missiles, he said.

Russian jets conducted strikes in the provinces of Hamas, Homs, Latakia and Idlib and destroyed “terrorist” command posts, defensive positions, training camps and ammunition depots, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. As in the past, it described all targets as belonging to ISIS, although most of the areas it said it had struck are not held by that group.

Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a USA official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced.

However, the advance came at a cost, with the Observatory and a Lebanese television station reporting that a senior Hezbollah commander had been killed fighting on the Syrian government side.

The dramatic military campaign is Moscow’s first outside the former USSR since Soviet troops went into Afghanistan in 1979 and has led a few to suggest that an emboldened Kremlin is aiming to reassert a few of its lost superpower status.

Russia’s intervention in Syria has infuriated Assad’s regional foes, including Saudi Arabia, who say Russian air strikes have been hitting rebel groups opposed to Assad, and not just the Islamic State fighters Moscow says it is targeting.

At the meeting on the sidelines of a Formula One motor race in Russia’s Sochi resort, Putin said he welcomed the opportunity to discuss security in the region, particularly in the light of bombings on Saturday that killed up to 128 people in Turkey.

“We expressed our concerns that these operations could be regarded as an alliance between Iran and Russian Federation”, said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He hoped talks with Russian Federation would continue.

Media captionWho’s fighting whom in Syria?

The Russian intervention has upended the strategy of the USA administration of President Barack Obama, which has led a separate bombing campaign against Islamic State for a year but failed to establish strong ties with fighters on the ground.

The New York-based rights group said it could not determine whether Russian or Syrian forces were responsible for the apparent use of the munitions, which descend by parachute and are created to destroy armored vehicles but can also pose a major hazard to civilians. But they have very different friends.