Russian air strikes kill 42 in Islamic State-held Raqqa, Syria: monitor

Jeremy Bender, offered by Published 12:49 pm, Fri., November 6, 2015 AP Photo/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service On November three, Russia carried out a collection of heavy air strikes against ISIS’s de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.

In a Thursday phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov underlined the Islamic Republic’s fundamental role in the diplomatic efforts to end over four years of violence in Syria, calling for Iran’s presence in the upcoming Vienna summit, IRNA reported.

Hammond cited the “fundamental difference” between Britain, the US and other countries that believe Assad must leave office as part of the transition process, and Syrian allies Russian Federation and Iran “who believe that he should be able to take part in a future election and if that election decides that he should go, then he goes at that point”.

“It’s early on in the game to say how effective they [the Russians] have been”, Lahur Talabani, the director of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s intelligence agency, told VOA.

Talabani, in Washington for meetings with US officials, said the Russians do not necessarily need to strike decisive blows to reach their goals. The more advanced Russian warplanes pack a far more powerful and accurate punch and have better observation capabilities than Assad’s air force. This was the last government-held town on the highway between Hama and Aleppo.

“It’s impossible for us to sit with the Russians amidst their occupation of Syria and their targeting of civilians, hospitals and the positions of the Free Syrian Army”, read the statement.

The rebels have been using U.S.-made Tow missiles effectively and have succeeded in a few areas to halt or push back government troops.

While they’re battling different rebel groups inside that wartorn land-the U.S.is going after the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria, while the Russians are mostly battling other rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad-neither of those outfits has an air force. The top USA diplomat in the Middle East reiterated this charge on Wednesday. Further support was lent to this view when, over the weekend, the White House announced the deployment of American special forces to Kurdish-held areas in the northeast part of Syria in the fight against the Islamic State, not against the Assad regime.

“The major offensives are only in their infancy”, said the official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the issue.

“The town Morek is a strategic place; it was an important base for regime’s forces and their operations against Syrian opposition factions”, he said, pointing out “that’s why the Syrian army, backed by a Russian air cover, has been striving for recapturing it”.

“What has most likely happened is that as soon as the Russians had enough forces in theater to start military operations, they did”, Harmer said. “The increase to 4,000 is simply the logistical tail to support the combat tooth”.

A video released by the National Defence Forces – a pro-government militia organisation – on 22 October showed one firing rockets, purportedly in northern Latakia province.