Pentagon: USA warplane rerouted over Syria to avoid Russians
Russian TV has aired cheery weather forecasts for its fighter jets bombing Syria.
– Al-Nusra Front is Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate and the most important jihadist group in the country after its rival, the Islamic State group.
Clashes and shelling in areas along the Syrian-Lebanese border are not uncommon.
The Islamic State group is the most well-organised, resources-rich and brutally violent non-regime force in Syria.
With Russia extending its air strikes to include the ancient city of Palmyra, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he was losing patience with Russian violations of his country’s air space. Shoigu insisted the operation destroyed all the targets and did not launch any strikes upon civilian areas.
The launches marked the combat debut of the Russian Kalibr long-range cruise missiles, equivalent to U.S. Tomahawk missiles.
It added that four warships based in the Caspian sea were involved in the attacks: the Gepard-class frigate Dagestan and the Buyan-M-class corvettes Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich and Veliky Ustyug, which used cruise missiles capable of hitting a target within 10 foot at a range of up to 1,550 miles.
Putin said it was too early to talk about the results of Russia’s operations in Syria and ordered Shoigu to continue cooperation with the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq on Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a government offensive began on four fronts Wednesday in the northwestern provinces of Idlib and neighboring Hama. The Russian leader said the idea came from French President Francois Hollande.
A military source in Hama told AFP that “the Syrian army in its latest operations is working on cutting off the southern parts of Idlib province from the northern parts of Hama province”. Video on social media by rebel fighters showed government tanks burning, apparently after being hit by U.S.-made TOW missiles. Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman says it is “the most intense fighting in months”.
Syrian state television also reported Tuesday what appeared to be Russian raids on several sites in the northern province of Aleppo, including the IS-controlled town of Al-Bab.
The Observatory said two helicopters believed to be Russian were seen flying at low altitude in Morek. Assad’s air force has Russian-made helicopters. Soleimani also met with senior Russian military officials during his visit, the officials said.
Since 2014, the United States and Arab nations in a US-led coalition have been carrying out air strikes against IS targets in Syria. At the time, Russia’s deputy foreign ministry spokesman said he has “no information whatsoever” that Soleimani visited Russian Federation, which would be a violation of U.N.travel sanctions against the general.
Washington is not prepared to cooperate with Russia’s strategy that is “tragically flawed,” he said.
“Our aim is to bring everybody to fight Daesh, not to fight among themselves,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
Davis says this highlights the Pentagon’s interest in talking further to Russian officials about ways to avoid accidents and potential unintended conflict in the sky over Syria.