Russian Federation bolstering military presence in Syria

A jihadi cleric based in Syria has warned Russian Federation that the Arab country will be a “graveyard for invaders”.

In the first instance, an attack in north-western Homs province, the apparent chosen battlefront, would help distract the rebel alliance from attacking Latakia, the stronghold of the Alawite minority from which much of the regime is drawn.

He said only Iran and Syrian President Bashar Assad are on Putin’s side, while the U.S.is leading a 60-nation worldwide coalition against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Department of State spokesman John Kirby said a Russian official in Baghdad had told USA embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would shortly begin flying anti-Isis missions in Syria.

Janning pointed out that in recent weeks it has become clearer for Russian Federation that its main ally in the region, Assad, is incapable of turning the war, while Daesh has strengthened its pseudo-state structure, raising concerns that the group can further expand areas it controls. He said an IS command post and a weapons storage bunker were destroyed in the area of Raqqa, the extremists’ de facto capital. It wasn’t immediately clear which day’s strikes he referred to.

“Our targets are exclusively the positions of objects and equipment belonging to the armed terrorist group Isil [Isis]”, Russian Federation Today quoted Lavrov as saying.

This image made from footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry…

Alexander Rahr, a prominent German author and expert on Russian Federation, said although Washington and Moscow both see the need to act against growing threats by Daesh, they take action in line with their different priorities.

CARTER: We intend to continue our air operations unimpeded.

He said that Russia’s intervention had further “complicated” the crisis, while suggesting that Britain should extend its own bombing campaign-currently only operational against ISIS in Iraq-to Syria.

However, rebels claimed that the “other terrorist groups” included moderate elements, a few trained by the Central Intelligence Agency as part of the American programme for supporting the opposition.

Russian Defense officials reported its air force has carried out 18 airstrikes this Thursday.

Syrian activists say warplanes believed to be Russians have attacked a central town that was recently captured by the Islamic State group.

Moscow started the airstrikes which it said were targeting IS forces and fighting terrorism, but USA leaders are skeptical of that.

Kanaan said the Russians warplanes have “massive destruction strength”.

Russian Federation says it has launched a campaign against “terrorist” groups in Syria including IS but also its jihadist rival, Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front, and other groups.

“We’re not going back there”, he said, adding: “Historically, we do not mess with it. If it gets messed with, it would have profound implications for the global economy and could put our financial system in the kind of tailspin that we saw back in 2007 and 2008….”