Putin: Time for ‘next level’ of strikes on IS in Syria

Russian and Syrian warplanes launched dozens of air strikes on Islamic State-held areas of eastern Syria on Friday, after the group’s fighters staged an assault on an air base near the city of Deir al-Zor, a monitoring group said.

The Russian leader made the disclosure at the Group of 20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, where the fight against ISIS topped the discussion.

Flynn suggested in a recent Al Jazeera interview that the Obama administration knew that its arming of extremist rebels in Syria would lead to the creation of an Islamic State group but willfully continued and supported the establishment of such a Salafist principality because it would further help the West in its effort to oust Assad. He’s consulting with members of the coalition who have pledged to destroy the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.

Speaking to reporters in Manila on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Obama questioned Russia’s approach to the crisis in Syria and President Vladimir Putin’s allegiance to President Bashar Assad. In August, I wrote an article for War on the Rocks discussing the impact Russia’s bomber overflights had on USA strategic perceptions of Moscow’s intent, despite wearing out its air force.

He told reporters recently, “We need to organize work specifically concentrated on the prevention of terrorist attacks and tackling terrorism on a global scale”. And Obama has shown little interest supplanting Russia’s position with USA troops.

French jet fighters have escalated their strikes against the terrorist group in Raqqa, while President Francois Hollande, who will meet with President Obama next week in Washington and with Putin in Moscow, called for “a single coalition” to defeat the militants.

He also added that the Russian military has started cooperating with its French counterparts, as ordered by President Putin. According to Western media, these Russian strikes mostly hit rebels opposed to the Assad government, not IS terrorists.

The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says that in the Russian Defence Ministry video soldiers can be seen writing messages on the bombs before loading them onto the aircraft – phrases like: “This is revenge for our dead” and “This is for Paris”. “A realistic time frame … is two to three years”.

“Russian mobilization through proxies as well as with naval and air assets ranges beyond Syria in an increasingly aggressive pattern”, the Institute for the Study of War said.

A report by Business Insider said: “Oil sales-the extremists largest single source of continual income-are a key reason they have been able to maintain their rule over their self-declared caliphate stretching across large parts of Syria and Iraq”.

Assad has “cut his own deal” with Islamic State, buying oil from the group and failing to attack militants, Kerry said. “Maybe it’s getting through to them”, Talbott said.