Allies urge Russian Federation to stop targeting civilians in Syria

According to the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition group, the Russian airstrikes resulted in the deaths of 36 civilians, including five children. “It was through the tactical cooperation and operational air support by the terrorist [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime and its sectarian collaborators that enabled Daesh’s rapid expansion in Syria”. Homs also has positions run by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. “Since we are two friendly countries, I’ll ask them to review the steps they have taken regarding this matter and what they have done”.

Ankara hopes that Moscow’s military operations in Syria will not affect bilateral relations between Turkey and the Russian Federation, the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper said October.

Turkish jets have carried out air operations against Daesh since late August, as part of the worldwide coalition fighting the militants.

Speaking in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, Erdogan expressed anger that whereas Moscow had informed Ankara it would be attacking Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria, it had in fact targeted moderate Syrian rebels.

“With Russia’s military moves balancing the gains that other jihadi groups made in Idlib in the north and Daraa in the south earlier this year, Ankara’s priority of toppling Assad has grown even more irrelevant”. “We cannot ignore the impact of unresolved conflicts, mismanaged crises, mass displacements and gaps of human security, intolerance, discrimination, racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia as factors that prepare the grounds for violent extremism”.

“Such zones, if implemented appropriately, would keep Syrians inside Syria, help a volunteered return of refugees and encourage people to believe again in a stable future for their country“, he said.

At the United Nations, Sinirlioglu told reporters that if Russian Federation was indeed bombing civilians and the non-ISIS elements of the Syrian opposition, it could lead to “further escalation, and that is the last thing that we need in this very tragic and chaotic situation in Syria”.