Russian Federation begins airstrikes in Syria

In pic: A frame grab taken from video released by the Russian Defence Ministry on October 1, 2015, shows Russian jets hitting a target in Syria. Russias launch of airstrikes in Syria is prompting discussions within the Pentagon about whether the US should use military force to protect U.S.-trained and equipped Syrian rebels if they come under fire by the Russians.

“We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians”, added the statement, which was also published on the websites of the German and French foreign ministries.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said aside from the Islamic State, other groups were being targeted by Russia.

US officials later made it clear that rebels trained by the USA would receive air support in the event they were attacked by either Islamic State militants or Syrian government troops.

Tensions between the USA and Russia are escalating over Russian airstrikes that apparently are serving to strengthen Assad by targeting rebels – perhaps including a few aligned with the US – rather than hitting Islamic State fighters it promised to attack. Slotkin is the acting assistant secretary of defense for global security affairs.

President Barack Obama is vehemently rejecting Russia’s military actions in Syria as self-defeating and dismissing the idea that Moscow is strengthening its hand in the region.

Obama said he spoke to Putin and told him that he is willing to work with them to negotiate a political transition that removes Assad, from power and leaves the state and military institutions intact.

Rescue workers in opposition-held areas in western Syria say the strikes have killed at least several dozen civilians, including children. He said they do not believe that ISIS targets were struck.

Russia’s apparent strategy won’t end the war, experts said, explaining that fighting could continue indefinitely against the Islamic State and other hardline jihadis.

Cook said the USA side proposed using specific worldwide radio frequencies for distress calls by military pilots flying in Syrian airspace, but he was not more specific about that or other proposals.

The redeployment of the militias have helped put the brakes on offensives by Baghdad to drive the Islamic State out of key cities in Anbar province, said Smyth, who monitors the militias’ movements through their fighters’ social media posts.

“Russia can no longer count on the backlash of their involvement being largely confined to Syria”, said a USA intelligence official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Russian Federation unleashed a third day of airstrikes on Friday, including for the first time Islamic State positions. “It’s trust but verify”, he said.

Otto added that the Russians have been dropping ‘dumb bombs, ‘ a reference to munitions that are not precision-guided.

“There’s no sense that it’s something in the American character that is creating this”, he said.

The so-called US-led coalition has also been engaged in similar operations against Daesh terrorists in neighboring Iraq, but they have been assessed by Iraqi authorities as largely ineffective since they have not resulted in eliminating the terror threat in the parts of the country where the Takfiri militants are present.