Russian jets hit ISIS, opposition forces in Syria

Or is it doing something more troubling, as USA officials suspect?

“It is one thing obviously to be targeting ISIL”. USA aircraft should stay out of the way, it said.

Kerry and Lavrov said they had traded ideas about how to move ahead with a political transition in Syria and would be considering them in the coming days.

The Kremlin said it hit IS militants, but this has been disputed by the United States and Western-backed rebels on the ground.

Claims that Russia is targeting anyone except ISIS is ridiculous, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“The president has been a foreign policy disaster”, Romney said.

Mr Putin said it was “an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces, who are valiantly fighting terrorism face-to-face”, conveniently ignoring the fact that Mr Assad’s main target has always been his domestic opposition, not the Islamic State. “We have informed the authorities in the United States and other members of the coalition created by the Americans of this and are ready to forge standing channels of communication to ensure maximally effective fight against the terrorist groups”.

“Some reports also alleged that Russian jets hit a Free Syrian Army-controlled areas”, RT said. ISIL is another acronym for ISIS.

The White House downplayed the Russian move and its dangers.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said it was “too early for me to say what target they were aiming at and what targets were hit”.

He and other Republicans repeatedly argue that Obama said Assad would “cross a red line” by using chemical weapons on civilians but failed to take action amid compelling, independent evidence of such attacks.

It’s not just where Russian Federation is striking that has drawn skepticism.

“The only explanation for bombing us is that they are sending a message to say that they want all of Homs”. I have not seen ISIL flying any airplanes that require SA-15s or SA-22s (Russian missiles), said Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s supreme allied commander.

Syria and Russian Federation have established a coordination center in Hamah province, though its goal remains unclear, officials said.

Hof added that “it appears that Putin is capitalizing cleverly on the shortfalls of US Syria policy”.

Kerry said military-to-military discussions to avoid any accidental conflicts could begin as early as Thursday.

“I’m especially concerned because there has been no real effort by the Russian side to deconflict the Russian air strikes in Syria with the ongoing US-led coalition fighting ISIL”, he said.

“We should say, you can not fly in these areas, and demarcate them”.

Syrian dissidents have been demanding end to over 40 years of al-Assad family rule.

And he warned that Russia’s arrival in the bloody four-year-long civil war would “backfire” and only serve to prolong the conflict.

The UK Telegraph quotes a Syrian source in Damascus, who has “close contacts to regime officials”, saying that Hezbollah units will partner with Assad’s military for a “major ground offensive on rebel-held parts of Homs”.

Russia’s involvement in Syria will be a further challenge for Moscow, which is already intervening in Ukraine at a time when its own economy is suffering from low oil prices and Western sanctions.

The Pentagon has the same suspicion, Defense officials told CNN.

Russian Federation has been steadily dispatching more and more military aircraft to a base in Latakia, regarded as an Assad stronghold, after the Syrian government suffered a series of battlefield reverses.