Iraqi prime minister says he would ‘welcome’ Russian airstrikes in Iraq

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. 2 with reference to the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Moscow has urged Washington to avoid “unintended incidents” by restarting direct military dialogue, which President Barack Obama suspended in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The latest attacks came as Russian officials extended an olive branch to moderate rebels fighting the Syrian Government and said they could be included in Moscow’s plans for an eventual peace settlement. “We have the right to do it”, Khoja said, adding that the Free Syrian Army is prepated to confront the Russian “occupation”.

The nearest Isis-controlled territory is more than 160km away.

He said: “We’re analysing where the strikes are going every morning”.

One strike hit the outskirts of Kafr Nabl, a town that has won renown as a symbol of the peaceful protest movement against Assad family rule.

“We haven’t received that”. “Obviously this is of great concern from a national security standpoint, because we have already seen a sharp escalation in terrorist activity linked to the Syrian civil war”.

“It was like a nuclear bomb”, he said. Britain and Germany agreed that Assad could stay pending a transition, paving the way for the USA secretary of state, John Kerry, to say that the Syrian leader did not have to depart on “day one or month one” of a transitional period.

Before meeting with Sinirlioğlu, Kerry told reporters that it was important to keep Russian Federation focused only on ISIL and not other groups. According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, the two renewed a commitment to combat ISIL and other terrorist groups in Syria.

Speaking from the campaign trail, New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair said an NDP government would discontinue the bombing campaign in Syria and bring home the special forces operators responsible for training Kurdish fighters on the ground. “Since the beginning, Russian Federation has supported the regime of Bashar Assad and furnished him weapons, even if it goes further now”, Hollande said at a press briefing.

COL. IGOR KLIMOV, Russian Army (through interpreter): The Russian aviation group carried out the first precision strikes on eight sites of the global terrorist organization Islamic State. Does it still exist? The use of such indiscriminate targeting could lead to the deaths of innocent civilians, he said, and create more terrorists than they kill.

It was not immediately clear who was representing the Russians.

Moscow’s intervention comes at a time when insurgents had been scoring major battlefield gains against government forces after years of stalemate in the war.

But with the Russian military build-up continuing, it remains unclear precisely what Russian intentions are, said Jeff White, a military analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“The Russians can’t be stupid”, another senior administration official said.

Quoting several administration officials, CNN reported Thursday that no ambiguity remains about Russia’s strategy in Syria.

Putin appears to be betting that by defending Assad he can increase Russia’s influence in any post-war settlement, safeguard the naval base and counter the influence of regional rivals like North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey.

The American public, he said, has to be part of the solution by making sure that they vote for politicians who are in favor of “common-sense” gun laws like universal background checks. And in Homs, a building housing displaced Syrians was struck.

Russian Federation co-operating with Iran with the aim of keeping al-Assad in power was “just going to get them stuck in a quagmire, and it won’t work”, Obama said.

Otto said that even as the US tries to ensure Russian airstrikes don’t conflict with coalition operations in Syria, he does not believe there will be any real intelligence-sharing with Moscow.

In this respect, I want to inform you that the president of the Syrian Arab Republic has addressed the leadership of our country with a request of military assistance.