Syrian general says Russian strikes aid ground offensive

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation talked tough Thursday about Moscow’s expanding military activity in Syria, but the U.S.-led alliance’s main response to the Russian airstrikes and cruise missile attacks was a public pledge to help reinforce the defenses of member nation Turkey if necessary.

“For the Russians to have done that without giving any warning is further indication that they’re not thinking through the consequences of their conduct”, Carter said.

The officials said it is unclear whether the errant missiles, launched from Russian ships in the Caspian Sea, caused any significant damage in Iran. “All our cruise missiles hit their target”, ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

It comes amidst allegations from the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the so-called Islamic State fighters have seized villages close to Aleppo from rival insurgents. However, its air strikes have also hit other rebel groups opposed to Assad, those includes group backed by Washington.

In January, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria that also killed six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

U.S. President Barack Obama suggested that Russian airstrikes in Syria are a sign of the growing weakness of Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an interview on CBS News, of which an excerpt was released Friday. Russian Federation has has a small air force forward deployed in Syria capable of striking harder than a Kalibr cruise missile can.

Four Russian warships launched a naval bombardment at Syrian targets early Wednesday from more than 900 miles away in Russia’s first use of cruise missiles in combat.

The ministry said it had destroyed eight IS strongholds near populated areas in Homs province, and hit 11 training camps linked to the group in Hama and Raqa provinces.

“By taking the side of Assad they inflame the civil war – and therefore extremism – and prolong the suffering of the Syrian people”, said Mr Carter in London. “We show the launch of our rockets and the targets they struck”. Asked how long the coalition would be in place and whether it would be maintained until the end of both the Assad regime and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the senator gave no timeline.

Lt Gen Simon Mayall, Britain’s former senior defence adviser for the Middle East, said Russia’s intervention meant Assad would remain in power for at least the short term.