Russian Federation planes strike IS in Syrian city of Palmyra: Syria TV

Maj. Jamil al-Saleh, the leader of Tajammu Alezzah, said his forces have had to redeploy to safer areas after 22 of his fighters were wounded in the airstrikes, but they have not withdrawn from the front-lines at Latamneh, a town north of Hama.

The United States, too, is launching air raids on Islamic State targets in parts of the country. “Volunteers are not being called upon, enlisted or campaigned for”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing.

“They want to raze it completely”, he told AFP. Soleimani also met with senior Russian military officials during his visit, the officials said. “Because right now there’s a talk that Iraqi government may ask Russian Federation to intervene and bomb ISIS in Iraq”, Felgenhauer said.

The Russian airstrikes strikes appear to have emboldened Syrian troops to launch the ground push after a series of setbacks in northwestern Syria in recent months.

The Observatory also reported several Russian strikes in the northwest of Aleppo province, including one on Wednesday morning that it said killed two women and a child.

“Our planes in Syria do not strike populated areas and especially ones with architectural monuments”.

It now controls about a third of Syrian territory, with the rest divided among Islamic State jihadists, Al-Qaeda-linked groups, mainstream rebels and Kurdish forces.

Since September 30, Russia have been targeting IS positions in Syria with aerial bombings, according to Russian and Syrian officials.

The strikes destroyed 20 vehicles and three weapons depots in Islamic State-held Palmyra, state television said, quoting a military source.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the main thrust of the Syrian government’s offensive was focused on the area around the village of Latmeen, which is controlled by the Army of Conquest coalition of Syrian rebels that includes the Nusra Front.

McCain, who has long promoted deploying USA ground forces to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, criticized the way Carter and other members of President Barack Obama’s administration have responded to Russian activity in Syria, saying “everybody knows that Russia is winning”. Moscow insists it is going after IS targets in the war-torn country but the U.S. and its allies fears the aim of the intervention is to bolster the Syrian government.

He says USA aircraft are still flying attack and other missions daily over Syria.

Karim al-Nouri, the spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Forces, the paramilitary force in Iraq made up predominantly of Shiite militias, said the Russians are “more serious in eliminating Daesh” than the Americans.

The US was still waiting Wednesday for a formal response from Russian Federation on a draft document laying out proposed technical safety procedures for the aircraft flights, the defense official said.

Russia’s dive into the Mideast’s conflicts marks a shifting of alliances, particularly with Iraq, where officials have grumbled that the U.S.-led coalition’s air campaign against IS has not been as effective as they hoped and the prime minister has said he’d welcome Russian airstrikes.