Obama: Russian approach to Syria a ‘recipe for disaster’

Uncredited/AP A bomb explosion is seen in Syria as Russia’s launch of airstrikes against Syrian rebels has drawn ire from the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting ISIS.

Russia’s relationship with Syria was forged during the Soviet era when Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled the country.

Moscow insists the strikes it began in Syria on Wednesday are targeting Islamic State and other militant groups, including the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front, and may last as long as four months, a Russian politician has said.

“Russian warplanes struck Al-Qaryatain this morning”, the source said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A security source on the ground told AFP that Russian air attacks also targeted the Army of Conquest, the most powerful Islamist coalition battling Syrian government forces in the northwest.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said both sides in Thursday’s talks presented proposals and ideas for avoiding conflict between U.S. and Russian aircraft.

“We are not going to cooperate with a Russian campaign to simply try to destroy anybody who is disgusted and fed up with Mr. Assad’s behavior”, Obama said, while promising to “maintain lines of communication” on an outcome that would preserve the Syrian state and military as institutions while assuring Assad’s departure.

Russian Federation bombed Syria for a third straight day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting, and drawing an angry response from the West.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said at least 12 IS jihadists from the Islamic State group were killed in the Raqqa attack. It had no word on casualties.

Obama said that the US was engaged in technical conversations about “deconfliction” in Syria.

These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization. The statement was released Friday by the Turkish Foreign Ministry and confirmed by the French Foreign Ministry.

The ministry released cockpit video of the bombing of the Kassert-Faradz command post and of two attacks in Maaret al-Numan.

Russian jets appeared to be primarily bombing central and northwestern Syria, strategic regions that are the gateway to Assad’s strongholds in the capital of Damascus and the coast. However given rapidly shifting battlefield terrain in Syria’s chaotic civil war, it can be hard to distinguish which groups holds what territory.

Mr Putin, on the other hand, says Assad should stay.

The United Nations, meanwhile, has been forced to suspend planned humanitarian operations in Syria under a ceasefire agreement due to the surge of military activities. Growing numbers of refugees are going to Europe. But, he said, “it’s no surprise to us that the Iranians are present”.