Pentagon: US warplane rerouted over Syria to avoid Russians

Iraq may request Russian air strikes against Islamic State on its soil soon and wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the militant group, the head of parliament’s defense and security committee said on Wednesday.

Russian Federation and Turkey have in recent years sought to step up cooperation, agreeing to build a new gas pipeline beneath the Black Sea and Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, while targeting US$100 billion in bilateral trade by 2023. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, has hit Western-backed rebels fighting Assad.

Clashes and shelling in areas along the Syrian-Lebanese border are not uncommon. That’s an area the opposition had considered to be relatively safe because Syria’s air force has avoided it.

The rebel group’s commander, Maj.

Russian Federation says the increase in military supplies aims to combat terrorism in accordance with worldwide law.

ISIS, which Russian Federation says it is targeting, is not present in the areas where the fighting is underway.

A few of the airstrikes have indeed targeted IS militants. Across Syria, Russian jets carried out at least 34 air strikes in the last 24 hours, the Observatory said.

“There’s a need to create a new coalition and force that is actually effective on the ground and performs the actual goal of fighting Daesh”, said Mohammed Naji, another aide to Amiri.

“We benefit from this war and these (rival) coalitions, ‘ he said in a conversation via Skype, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk on the group’s behalf”.

According to Syrian officials, the government push is concentrated in the adjacent provinces of Hama and Idlib where rebels have been advancing in the past months. But she also seemed to include a spectrum of factions in that category.

“On the whole, these proposals could be put in place,” he said.

“The government has been relying heavily on an untrustworthy ally, which is the United States, and this fault should be fixed”.

A Russian naval base with an estimated 3,000 personnel, is located to the south in neighboring Tartus province.

“We’ve know all along the Russian’s have, quote-unquote, the capability on paper,” he said.

“The president spoke of the necessary presence of the Syrian opposition around a future negotiating table”. The Russian strikes, however, are dramatically more powerful. Video on social media by rebel fighters showed government tanks burning, apparently after being hit by U.S.-made TOW missiles.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said government forces had launched an attack as Russian planes bombed the area. Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, denied any civilians had been killed.

In Syria, the leader of a US-backed rebel group, Tajammu Alezzah confirmed the ground offensive, claiming there were Russian and Iranian soldiers in the operation.

In the town of Saraqib in Idlib province, 23-year-old Raghda Ghanoum and her colleagues were working to set up a volunteer clinic to treat casualties from airstrikes. They had already destroyed temples and other antiquities. Most of Idlib province is held by an alliance of al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front and other Islamist groups.

Russia’s entry into the crowded and sometimes uncoordinated air wars in Syria is making the USA increasingly nervous, reflecting concern at the Pentagon and in Europe about the risk of accidents or unintended conflict. They urged regional allies to unite in support.

The gathering of regime armor comes on the heels of Russian airstrikes last week against alleged rebel targets in the northern Homs countryside.

“Despite what the Russians say, we have not agreed to cooperate with Russia, so long as they continue to pursue mistaken strategy and hit these targets”, Carter told reporters during a news conference in Rome with Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti.

“Only jihadists will be in abundance”, he added.