Russian Federation is Testing Modern Weapons in Syria

NATO, USA officials and others have noted that Russian Federation has targeted U.S.-backed rebels who are fighting Assad, rather than focusing on ISIS strongholds as the country initially declared it would do.

The reality is that the Islamist militias, including both ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, operate in close proximity to the border with Turkey, which serves as their pipeline for funds, arms and foreign fighters.

A video released by the Defense Ministry in Moscow showed what it said was a Russian naval strike group launching missiles from the Caspian that streaked across the night sky, then traced a route across Iran and Iraq, hugging terrain from as low as 50 meters, before hitting targets in Syria within a range of accuracy of as little as three meters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian airstrikes in Idlib killed at least seven civilians on Wednesday.

In addition to Syria and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation escalation in Eastern Europe, the ministers’ meeting discussed the situation in Afghanistan, where the recent fall of the northern city of Kunduz to the Taliban has exposed the fragility of Washington’s Afghan puppet regime and its security forces, which the Pentagon has spent a few $65 billion training.

“After the Russian airstrikes, which reduced the fighting ability of Daesh and other terrorist groups, the Arab Syrian armed forces kept the military initiative”, Ayoub said, using the Arabic acronym for the IS group.

It is unlikely that Vladimir Putin’s strike did much damage to Syrian rebels either.

The spokesperson added: “The Russian side stressed [during the meeting] that consolidation of worldwide efforts is necessary for an effective countering of the threat coming from Islamic State and other terrorist groups”. In remarks broadcast by Syrian state-run TV, he said Syrian forces have started a massive offensive to wipe out militants and retake unspecified areas under their control. “Activists say the helicopter landed in a regime-held town – miles from the nearest military airport”. A local media group said the helicopter belonged to the Syrian government.

Ayoub did not say which areas were being targeted.

The group said it documented the dropping of at least two vacuum, or thermobaric, bombs, “which are entirely indiscriminate in nature and impossible to evade, even when taking shelter”. And he dismissed Russia’s explanation that it had been patrolling Turkey’s border as a way to help the country.

Moscow’s support of embattled president Bashar al-Assad has left the USA and its allies reeling.

Putin also said that French President France Hollande had voiced the idea of uniting Assad’s forces with the so-called Free Syrian Army to fight Islamic State. Russian Federation is Turkey’s second-biggest trading partner.

“Losing Turkey would be a serious loss for Russian Federation”, Erdogan said, in comments published Thursday in the Hurriyet newspaper.

Over the weekend, Turkey reported back-to-back violations of its airspace by Russian warplanes. Russian Federation called its penetration of Turkish airspace a minor incident that was unintentional.

“Today we are expecting a reply from our colleagues and we hope they will tell us about those targets which they have,” he said.

“NATO is ready and able to defend all allies, including Turkey against any threats”, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters as he entered the meeting.