Russian PM says defending ‘national interests’ in Syria, not Assad

“Of course we are not fighting for specific leaders, we are defending our national interests, on the one hand”, Medvedev said in an interview to air on state television. They have so far met stiff resistance from rebels using U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles that have impeded swift breakthroughs, although they have taken a few villages from rebels in the past week.

“Military operations against the terrorist groups continue along with intensive air strikes carried out by Syrian air force and benefiting from the results of Russian strikes”, it said.

If the army succeeds in securing the airbase, it could be used by Russian Federation planes – now flying out of the Hmeimim base in Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast – to launch sorties and strikes, the Observatory said.

Even though the Russians have come in and Iran is sending in more people, “it’s also not going to work because they are trying to support a regime that in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the Syrian people is not legitimate”, Obama said.

“That would be bad strategy on our part”, he said.

Kartapolov said the air force is avoiding areas where the Free Syrian Army – the main Western-backed opposition force – is believed to be operating.

The United States says Russia’s true aim is to help bolster President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces have been gaining ground in Syria. Last month, Russian Federation planned out a bombing campaign.

At this time, there hasn’t been any confrontation between US and Russian forces in Syria.

Turkey would not hesitate to shoot down planes violating its air space, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday, a day after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member shot down an unidentified drone near its border with Syria.

The drone was shot down after it ignored three warnings to leave, the Turkish military said, but didn’t specify how it had relayed the warnings to the operators of the drone. “That is the basis we are working on”, Medvedev said.

“All our drones are either in mission areas or at the airbase…”

Around 200 people demonstrated in Moscow on Saturday against Russia’s air campaign, with police arresting one woman with a banner reading, “Putin assassin, don’t bring shame on Russian Federation”. Ankara, which supports Syrian rebels, has strongly criticized Russia’s military intervention.

McCain described Putin’s move “as another humiliating setback for the United States” and said, “We should expect Russian troops to take the field with (Assad’s troops)”.

After a similar statement by Putin, the general ruled out Russian military involvement in ground action in Syria.

A Russian military delegation led by deputy chief of the air force, Maj.

“On Afghanistan, I think the president’s decision to defer his earlier commitment to withdraw all of the US forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, to keep the forces there and let the next president decide whether to go for total withdrawal or not is a prudent adjustment given the situation in that region”, Khalilzad said.